The newly released Donda album, by Kanye West, was in the process of being released for multiple months. Kanye sold out football stadiums to perform this album and make sure it was released the way he wanted it. The fans were building up anticipation as the album release date was pushed back multiple times. It was recently released on August 29, and came out of the gates shattering records. Donda became the most streamed album on Apple Music in the first 24 hours following its release, hitting an astounding 60 million streams.   

Bellefonte senior Nicholas Way had a lot to say about the hype behind the album.

 “I think that Donda definitely lived up to the hype,”  he said.

The album also broke another record for reaching the number one album in 152 countries in the first 24 hours after it was released. On the second day, Donda received over 10 million more streams than Certified Lover Boy, Drake’s new album,  which was released on September 3.  

Donda consists of 26 songs that include many featured artists. Nicholas also talked about a number of comparisons between Donda and CLB. 

“The only part of the album debate that Drake could have won is the features included in both projects. I still think Kanye beats Drake in the features category with tracks like ‘Jail,’ ‘Off the Grid,’ ‘Pure Souls,’ and ‘Hurricane,’” Nicholas said.

Donda is a different type of rap and hip hop than CLB. It involves a lot of religious themes and a slower pace in most of the songs. For this reason it isn’t as popular of a genre of music for the target audience. 

Nicholas described the style of the album by saying, “[Donda] has gotten a lot of flack from listeners because many people expected a trap album with hardcore Kanye, and instead got an album dedicated to his mother that is in-depth and slowed down.” 

Kanye still managed to break many records over CLB and pulled in over 357 million streams, according to the New York Times. He also managed to get, so far, 775 million streams around the world. He made the number one album in 11 countries. 

One song stands out to Nicholas from all others on the album.

“My personal favorite song off of the album is not a common take, but I love ‘New Again,’ because of the song intro along with a great beat and energy that radiates from the track.”