Sometimes an artist releases an album or single that is so mediocre that you wish they would take a year off to find new inspiration, let their creative juices flow and try again. Over the past six years, Kanye West, who now performs under the moniker Ye, has given his fans — well, those of us who aren’t satisfied with the formal work he unloads between Sunday services and meetings with Trump surrogates — a list of reasons why he might use break.
Some already believe that the rapper’s career may be heading for a hiatus given the uncertain state of Donda 2. A sequel to Donda was expected around the end of February, but took a backseat due to a series of public shenanigans, mostly his harassment of being Kim Kardashian’s ex-wife and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson on Instagram. West announced last month that his 11th studio album would be available exclusively on a $200 portable audio device called the STEM Player, citing the low percentage artists earn from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. To date, West has yet to deliver Donda 2 to STEM buyers, instead downloading 16 new tracks from an album audition party called V2.22.22 Miami onto the player. There are no plans to officially release the album or re-release a batch of seemingly unfinished songs.
Given how offended fans and disgruntled critics have taken what we can assume is some version of Donda 2, it doesn’t look like West can do anything to revive the project at this point unless he starts from scratch. . Even then, he doesn’t give fans much cause for hope, given his recent string of disappointing releases, including this latest collection of songs that sound woefully unfinished.
Rarely has a Western project – one could argue that in the last three years – make you doubt its existence. Donda’s complete emptiness did not arouse much curiosity about the boring provocations and tricks that he had left from that era. And since the rapper’s divorce is still ongoing, he hasn’t gotten enough of the event to make a “divorce album” though he’s certainly trying. Likewise, West’s calls for sympathy as a new divorcee throughout Donda 2 could have been more digestible if backed up by his historically skillful performance and poignant lyricism. But the songs sound like a set of glorified GarageBand demos.
There’s also the fact that West’s self-pity over his divorce has manifested itself in some disturbing behavior, such as repeated public calls to “bring back” the Kardashians, prompting his fans to harass Davidson, or torturing the plasticine version of the SNL star in the music video. Breakup albums usually invite you to sink into that universal sense of grief, no matter how obnoxious the person delivering the songs is. However, nothing about West’s recent antics makes you identify with his grief.
The opening track, “True Love,” about West’s sense of alienation from his children, is an immediate eye-roller and sounds like a call to father’s rights. We’ve already seen West put on a public spectacle for not being invited to his daughter North’s birthday party, a claim disputed by Kardashian, and read about how he bought a house next to hers after their separation. which is a dubious move, but also a luxury. Most divorced fathers don’t. Sandwiched between XXXTentacion’s tunes, these anecdotes don’t evoke enough pathos to open the album convincingly, nor reveal anything new or unique about his experience.
Similarly, on “Too Easy”, West repeatedly sings “ain’t Nobody Gonna Love Me” through tight autotune, but doesn’t achieve the same masterful effect as the 808s and Heartbreaks. On the other hand, “Sci-Fi”, another dark track, features one of the album’s most dynamic tracks and most memorable hook (“Welcome to Sci-Fi / Take your pick / Oxygen or Wi-Fi”). Unfortunately, it’s the song that initially garnered headlines for a sample of Kardashian’s Saturday Night Live monologue, in which she states that she “married the best rapper of all time.” Whether she agreed to participate in this track or not, hearing her cheerful voice against the background of sad strings is at least creepy. Then there’s “Security,” which features completely harmless threats supposedly directed at Davidson and sounds like a kid playing with sound effects on a Casio keyboard.
“Then there’s ‘Security’, which features completely harmless threats supposedly directed at Davidson and sounds like a kid playing with sound effects on a Casio keyboard.”
There’s some respite from Kardashian-themed tunes with “Happy” and “We Did It Kids.” While it’s certainly not the best West can do, the first, which includes a long verse from Future, is a standout and much-needed change to West’s languid delivery throughout most of the album. The two rappers show off their wealth as West asks, “Do I look happy to you?” in a way that immediately tells us that it is not. “We Did It Kids” is a triumphant track that owes its exuberance to Baby Kim and Migos, who go head-to-head atop oddly subdued horns. When West tries to radiate that energy mostly himself in “For the First Time in a Long Time,” it feels grossly dishonest.
Another noteworthy track is “Louie Bags”, which sounds like a recent deep Drake recording. It is dedicated to West’s longtime friend and collaborator Virgil Abloh, who passed away in November. During the chorus, West repeats “I stopped buying Louie’s bags after Virgil died” to the point of exhaustion, reminiscent of Donda’s tedious intro track. He doesn’t specifically mention the designer in the song, although he mentions Abloh’s death elsewhere on the album. The song also features an unremarkable verse from Jack Harlow, whose affinity for a legendary man like West seems absurd, even given his recent experience with Gen Z rappers.
Kanye West at the Donda 2 Party in Miami, Florida.
YouTube
Speaking of which, most of the album’s features, many of which appeared on Donda, feel boring and designed to fill in gaps where West simply ran out of ideas rather than conscious combinations. Also, like Donda, this album features several men accused of sexual harassment or domestic violence, including Soulja Boy, The Game and XXXTentacion, whose vocals are featured on two tracks.
In general, Donda 2 or V2.22.22 Miami is clearly not experimental and not polished in sound. West’s point of view was annoying for a while, but there was a level of humor and self-awareness that made his narcissism and arrogance fun to listen to. Even when he was at his most arrogant, you enjoyed West as an irresistible guide to his own selfish mind. But his latest batch of songs makes you yearn to get out of his pathetic psyche.
If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s cheating fans who spent $200 on an initially useless MP3 player, such a mediocre album deserves such a bad release. Obviously, this isn’t the first time the idiosyncratic artist has struggled with deadlines and fiddling with tracks after they’ve been released digitally, as was the case with 2016’s The Life of Pablo, which was memorably chaotic, and follow-up album Ye, which was completely remade after his infamous “slavery was a choice” tirade on TMZ. But these projects, based either on years of goodwill as an exceptional artist or on the hype around his controversial antics, have given listeners at least something curious, both thematically and sonically. Donda 2 didn’t promise or deliver anything.