Kanye West’s new album, “Donda” was a winner with music fans this week, who put the album at the top of the Apple Music charts for both individual songs and the album as a whole.
Song titles such as “Jesus Lord” and “Praise God” signify that this is not the typical chart-topping album.
The lyrics of the album, named for his late mother, offer a respite from the profane rants that usually equate with popularity.
The album’s Sunday release was not without some West-level controversy.
“UNIVERSAL PUT MY ALBUM OUT WITHOUT MY APPROVAL AND THEY BLOCKED JAIL 2 FROM BEING ON THE ALBUM,” West posted on Instagram.
The album continues the Christian theme West explored on his “Jesus is King” album.
“I know God breathed on this,” West sings on the track “God Breathed.”
“Finally free, found the God in me,” he sings on “Hurricane.”
In the track “No Child Left Behind,” West says, “I’ll always count on God,” while the song’s chorus proclaims, “He’s done miracles on me.”
Twitter was abuzz with praise for the album
Kanye West’s “DONDA” becomes the first album in history to top the Apple Music charts in 130 countries pic.twitter.com/A8QQoAojxq
— Rap Hub (@RapHubDaily) August 30, 2021
Donda is a good album..y’all tweaking
— ? Cash (@CashNasty) August 30, 2021
Kanye West’s #DONDA is headed for No. 1 with the biggest debut of 2021 ? https://t.co/EK4wox1RAg pic.twitter.com/PetYfl24TL
— Rap-Up (@RapUp) August 30, 2021
Music with a Christian theme is bound to attract criticism, and the critics did not disappoint.
“[A]fter years of stylistic dithering and MAGA footsie, it’s clear that this guy has stumbled over the edge and drifted into a dead zone of aesthetic inertia. His new music contains only one unpopped kernel of cosmic truth: The void is boring,” The Washington Post’s Chris Richards said of West.
Richards derided the faith-filled lyrics as “Christian youth-group poetry contest submissions.”
Others read into what they wished.
In trying to find the root of the album, The Irish Times’ Ed Power wrote, “the person with whom [West] is truly trying to connect with, it would appear, is his estranged wife Kim Kardashian (who filed for divorce at the start of the year).”
Attempting to sum up the music, Power called the album “juddering, relentless, and driven by beats that go off like oversized depth charges. At all points throughout its exhausting 148-minute run time, there is a sense of dark forces lumbering just beneath the surface.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
