Beyond being one of the most prolific and controversial artists in music history, Kanye West has garnered a reputation of having the worst track records with album roll-outs and by the looks of it, his latest project ‘DONDA’ is no different.
Named after his late mother with the same name, DONDA will serve as a follow-up to Kanye’s 2019 project ‘Jesus is King’, an album which many called his worst one to date.
With Kanye being Kanye, delays and viral moments are expected in the build-up towards the hopeful release of his latest works, but here’s everything we know so far about DONDA.
He’s living at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium until he finishes it
Amongst the most viral and talked about moments of the DONDA album build-up was the reveal of Kanye West’s room within Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium, in which he is living in until he finishes the album.
Reports have also emerged that Kanye is like spending $1 million per day to stay at the stadium until the album is done.
West shared an image of his room within the 71,000-seat stadium, where he also hosted the record-breaking listening party, in which he also has a twin bed, a television, a small closet and a private chef.
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It has already broken a handful of records
In addition to the absolutely mind-boggling price tag on staying at the stadium, the second Donda listening party went on to become Apple Music’s most-watched livestream in history.
Also impressively, sources have revealed that the second listening party raked in over $7 million from in-person merchandise sales; close to the same amount that Kanye’s Yeezy x Gap coat made in one night.
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It’s packed with features
No stranger to collaboration, Kanye West has worked with everyone from Bon Iver to Elton John, Daft Punk to Gesaffelstein and everything in between, with DONDA expected to keep up the feature momentum.
Reports and leaks have revealed that the album may include features from Travis Scott, Jay-Z, Roddy Rich, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Baby Keem, Don Toliver, Pusha T and even a late entry from The Weeknd.
.@theweeknd & @kanyewest on the way…. 👀 pic.twitter.com/UTsJF78lyf
— The Weeknd News (@NewsWeeknd) August 2, 2021
Delays are a given
Despite initially being scheduled for release in July 2020, DONDA seemed to have got lost in the fold, with the subsequent release date being after Kanye’s first listening event at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where once again it failed to drop.
This repeated itself on August 5 where the album remained unreleased following the second party, with fans increasingly eager for the release after every minor change; including Apple Music updating the album’s description on their platform.
From alleged previews on Beats by Dre ads to the occasional controversial tweet from fellow artists and producers, the roll-out of DONDA is as stressful as it gets.
Kanye and Drake could be playing the waiting game
With Drake seeming to be in the same boat as Kanye when it comes to delays on his latest album ‘Certified Lover Boy’, many are suspecting that the two rap superstars are waiting for each other to drop the album so as to not clash in stream rates and numbers. Despite Kanye and Drake reportedly being in good terms, a streaming battle would mean good money for their shared label Universal Music Group and fans would definitely enjoy music from their favourite artists.
They friends now.. he not. Lol
— KC (@KarenCivil) July 21, 2021
Tag someone who can’t wait for Kanye’s new album.
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