MUSIC
Latest update on Kanye West’s ‘Bully’ album: everything we know
The musician announced that he is set to release another body of music, entitled ‘Bully’.
Dear, Kanye West, please can you just do it properly this time? The rapper revealed at an event held in China that he is set to drop a new album, entitled Bully. He was over in the far east promoting his most recent project, Vultures 2, which I really wish I didn’t have to talk about. Breathes deeply... here we go....
His previous project is indeed here and, this rapid-fire release rate means Kanye’s somewhat in the groove when it comes to putting music out; with a fair amount of Vultures 1 still featuring in most of my playlists, there’s no debating whether or not the outspoken musician still has enough juice to keep going.
However, when it comes to Bully, as much as I try to get hyped for this project, there are flashing lights, sirens and whirring helicopters above filled with officers that are all screaming through megaphones about just how bad Vultures 2 was before the retuned re-release. A tired, bored, washed-out and at times insultingly lazy sound came from the man who gave us Graduation and MBDTF, and I’m not on my own when I say Ye is toeing the fine line of having those swing states fall the other way and say: no thank you, Mr West.
So, what do we know about Bully and how can we get excited?
Well, we know what it’s called. “I got a new album coming out,” Ye told the Chinese fans in the clip that was captured and posted online, “The album’s called Bully.”
Why is Kanye West’s upcoming album called ‘Bully’?
A set of fans, the type of people who edit the Genius webpage, alleged that the album’s name comes from Larry Clark’s 2001 film film entitled ‘Bully’, which focuses on a group of teenagers who take revenge on an abusive friend by killing them. However, at the time of writing, everything to do with the album title is mere speculation.
The same goes for the artwork. Posts have surfaced that claim to have an idea about the album cover, but nothing has been confirmed by either the artist or anyone working with Ye on the project.
What songs are on Bully?
During his China show, Kanye performed two new songs from Bully. The first is called “Beauty and the Beast” and the second is called “Preacher Man”. At the time of writing, the songs, which are both soulful with RnB hints, haven’t been officially released and the only snippets we’ve heard are two grainy clips from those present at the Vultures 2 listening party.
When will Bully be released?
Quite hilariously, some expect Kanye to release Bully before the end of the year, but with Vultures 3 (it’s OK, I just rolled my eyes as well) also in the pipeline, we can’t say for certain when it will be announced.
And then we need to add what I like to call the ‘Kanye variable’ to the equation, which means taking all of your theories, writing them on paper and throwing them in the nearest open fire. Even Kanye can’t predict Kanye. Until I have Bully in vinyl between my mittens, it’s a throw of an icosahedron (that’s a 20-sided dice) as to whether it will even exist.
The album could drop tomorrow, next week, on Christmas Day or maybe we’ve both missed it already and the Chinese are having a whale of a time listening on Spotify as we reach the end of this article hoping and praying never to hear anything like Vultures 2 ever again.