The past few months have been a wild ride with Kanye West’s new album, Donda. It has been live-streamed in three different concert-like events, and there were listening parties everywhere.

The album was named after Kanye’s late mother, and it hit streaming services such as Spotify on Sunday. It has 27 tracks and reaches a total of almost two hours of listening time. Guest artists include Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Marilyn Manson, DaBaby, and the late Pop Smoke, offering alternate tracks to the roster.

From its rollout to its contents, the album is certainly impressive, so we asked a few music intellectuals from Triple J to share their impressions of Donda. Here are a few of their thoughts about Kanye’s 10th studio album in his 17 years of creating music.

 

Kanye asks his listeners indirectly how many redemption arcs can one have in Donda. Once more, he created a magnum opus the likes of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Similarly, he acts as the chief curator, exhibiting artists with different production styles and a wide range of features. The purpose that has been missing for a while is now evident, and there is thematic cohesion once more. The focus is there, despite the seeming mess of the events and the ever-shifting release date. Donda and drama are inseparable indeed, but Kanye the Artist has something to prove again. In contrast to his last few albums, Donda matches his self mythologizing. – ANGUS TRUSKETT, TRIPLE J SOCIALS

The drawn-out and messy launch spectacles made the album special, and when I heard it for the first time during the original Atlanta listening party, I was brought to tears. Donda shows Kanye at his most vulnerable, featuring tracks talking about his marriage’s breakdown, declining mental health, and relationship with God. Some of the featured artists are just as brilliant, with the likes of Baby Keem, Travis Scott, and Kid Cudi, but his collaboration with Jay-Z tied the entire album together, despite their differences. Of course, there’s no need for Jail Pt., but Jail was a perfect song, as far as I’m concerned.

However drawn-out it was, it was something special to hear these songs dissected in real-time. It’s far from anything anyone else could have done, and having it on streaming platforms was something I wasn’t sure would even happen. It made me sad that the whole process was over. It’s good, but not great. It’s not the worst album, but Donda cannot be considered as his best. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but I think diehard fans and Ye apologists desperately needed Donda after several controversial years, including the MAGA hat drama, that they consider it as a masterpiece.

There are a few brilliant moments, but hardly recognizable amidst the redundancy. Some can be considered strong songs, but they get bloated, much like stuffy hymns. It’s hard resonating with the redemptive arc of someone who loves playing the villain. The album needed a little more baking, but it would only have worsened Kanye’s tendencies, such as featuring accused rapist Marilyn Manson and people like DaBaby and Chris Brown, making poor commentary on cancel culture. A Kanye album has too much baggage to be just an album, and it seems to be for the worse. – AL NEWSTEAD, MUSIC NEWS

I have a love/hate relationship with Ye since I couldn’t appreciate his last few albums. I couldn’t differentiate the person and the artist because I disconnected from him and his music due to his controversies in the past year. I might have been able to with Donda since it felt like he just humbly worked on his music until it was ready, which meant a lot of years and false release dates for Ye. Here’s what I have to say: I was lucky to receive this album with no biases, and I did enjoy it. Despite not resonating religiously with Ye, the intent and the higher vibrations were evident. There’s still love/hate, but I quote from ’24: “New me over the old me.” Welcome home, Ye. – HAU LATUKEFU, HIP HOP SHOW