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And Finally Artist News Releases
Kanye West still working on Donda, having missed Friday release
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 26 July 2021
So, have you all been enjoying Kanye West’s new album ‘Donda’ over the weekend? No, of course you haven’t. Because in true Kanye style, after promising that it would be out on Friday following that big listening party for fans on Thursday night, the album has still not been released.
The reason for the delay, seemingly, is that while standing silently playing ‘Donda’ to 42,000 fans at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, West realised that the album was not quite finished. Already delayed by a year, the album still needs work, he reckons. And he got back to work immediately. So immediately that he’s not actually left the Mercedes-Benz stadium yet.
According to TMZ, West has had a studio space and living quarters built in the stadium and plans to stay there until ‘Donda’ is finished. Whether this means there will be a further listening event at the venue of the actual finished product remains to be seen.
West’s 2018 album ‘The Life Of Pablo’, of course, was updated on streaming services several times before eventually being deemed finished. Now we could see ‘Donda’ tested out over a stadium PA one or more times before the wider world gets to hear it. Maybe that’s the only way you’ll ever be able to hear it.
Suspicions that West had not left the Mercedes-Benz Stadium were roused on Saturday. As fans wondered what had happened to the Friday release, the rapper was spotted at the venue on Saturday, watching an Atlanta United football game. He was also still wearing the same outfit that he’d had on during Thursday’s listening event. So, West quite possibly got to work right away on the tweaks after said event, and may now be in desperate need of a shower.
Anyway, who knows when this album will actually emerge. Right now, your best chance of getting anywhere close to it is an auction currently running on eBay. One of those 42,000 people who actually got to have a listen thought to take a sandwich bag with them. As a result, there is now a sealed bag of air from the event up for sale.
Just to be clear, this is an actual bag of air. I haven’t just come up with a new nickname for Kanye. At the time of writing there are no bids – mainly because the starting bid has been, somewhat optimistically, set at $500 – but there are still six days left to go. We’ll see if the album comes out before it sells.
