Overnight, Apple Music launched a new livestream event and rolled out a rare in-app takeover ahead of the expected unveiling of Kanye West’s new album, Donda.
Indeed, around 1:00 a.m. ET, the streaming music provider shared a link to the exclusive livestream event, which—like its predecessor—is taking place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Notably, West was born in the Georgia capital. Within the app, “Kanye West Presents a Donda Event” is displayed prominently under a new Countdown to Donda tab.
Earlier into the stream, which was at first focused on what appears to be West’s living quarters inside the stadium with a countdown clock affixed to the wall, Chance the Rapper was seen stopping by. As of later Thursday morning, Vic Mensa was also seen on the stream. Other familiar faces thus far include Mike Dean (of course!), Steve Lacy, Fivio Foreign, and more.
At one point, a vocal mic was positioned above the bed that West was seen sitting in. Elsewhere, West was seen doing push-ups in a special Donda-emblazoned vest. As Apple Music has explained, audio for the stream has been “intentionally muted,” at least for now.
Below, click through to keep the stream going until later tonight, at which point the festivities will begin and fans will be even closer to obtaining on-demand availability of West’s 10th studio album.
Meanwhile, over on the official Kanye site, a list of Donda Super Room: Public Live Streaming Events has been shared, all with a listed start time of 9:30 p.m. ET. See the full rundown of global coordinates here.
While West has remained silent during the Donda rollout, including on Twitter where his most recent tweet remains his “KANYE 2024” message dated Nov. 4, he’s been sporadically active on Instagram. There, the 22-time Grammy winner has shared updates from inside the stadium in Atlanta.
Most recently, West and Dean both shared a screenshot of an iPhone’s recent missed calls, with “ABEL WEEKEND [sic]” making multiple appearances:
Speaking with Mark Anthony Green for a GQ piece published earlier this week, the Weeknd mentioned West when asked who he would like to work with soon.
“I’d love to work with Kanye again. Especially on production,” he said.
