What Should We Expect from Kanye West’s Album Listening Event?

T-minus four days until we finally get to hear some semblance of Kanye West‘s new album, which has been gossiped about for the last several weeks. Reported to be a collaborative project with his close friend and decorated R&B star Ty Dolla $ign, the currently untitled LP will debut during a “multi-stadium listening event” on Friday (November 3), according to Ty Dolla’s Instagram post from last week.

Aside from this, though, the only information we know about the West and Ty Dolla collab either comes from two video snippets of songs played by Ty Dolla recently, or from a report that alleged the album “is West’s best music in at least five years.” So, with that being said, it seems like a lot will be learned on Friday. But that didn’t stop us from speculating beforehand.

What Could the Album Sound Like?

Previously, West and Ty Dolla have collaborated numerous times since 2015. Their first encounter with each other came when Ty Dolla earned songwriting credits on West’s single “FourFiveSeconds” with Rihanna and Paul McCartney. They followed this up with “Guard Down,” a song from Ty Dolla’s 2015 album Free TC that featured West and Diddy.

Then, starting with The Life of Pablo in 2016, Ty Dolla has appeared on every single one of West’s studio albums. This includes ye (2018), Kids See Ghosts (2018), JESUS IS KING (2019), and Donda (2021). On most of these collaborations, such as “Real Friends” off TLOP or “Everything We Need” off JIK, Ty Dolla typically offers an either epically sung hook or a melancholic chorus that sandwiches between earnest verses from West.

But, that does not mean they can’t alter their formula from time to time. For Ty Dolla’s 2020 solo album Featuring Ty Dolla, he included West on “Track 6,” where West delivers a crooned bridge, and “Ego Death,” where the two each give funky contributions on the Skrillex and FKA Twigs-assisted medley.

So, for their impending collaborative effort, we’ll likely see a lot of Ty Dolla in the chorus and West rapping the verses. But, it would be fair to assume there will be a few cuts that deviate from this trend, where West could flex his vocal chops or Ty Dolla could step outside his comfort zone in one way or another.

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How Will the “Multi Stadium Listening Event” Work?

For West’s aforementioned 2021 album Donda, he held several listening parties to build anticipation for the LP’s official release. Most of these took place in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium where he was born. But, for the last one before the project came out, West hosted it at Soldier Field in Chicago, where he actually grew up.

Half a year later in early 2022, West began working on Donda 2, hosting a listening party at LoanDepot Park in Miami in February. Though the album was never given an official release, it made it clear to fans that public listening parties had become an essential tool for West’s album rollouts.

So, it should come as no surprise that West is planning a similar event this week for his newest full-length effort. This time, though, the verbiage of the announcement has left fans a bit confused.

At first, West was expected to have his listening part in Italy at RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia. This option soon fell through, though, as Italian officials had safety concerns. According to reports, though, Italy is where West and Ty Dolla spent most of the late summer and early fall working on the album.

On Friday, one likely outcome is that the rapper and singer could be planning to fly from one city’s stadium to another on the same day, having two or more separate listening events. Another outcome could be that they’ll be present at one stadium while simultaneously broadcasting the event at other stadiums with an exclusive livestream.

This past weekend, West was spotted in Saudi Arabia for a boxing match, where he would later play the album privately for celebrity friends like Mike Tyson and J Prince. So, perhaps Saudi Arabia could be one of, if not the only, location for the “listening event.” But, as noted before, Miami, Atlanta, Italy, and Chicago could also be other options to be considered for the “multi-city” aspect of it all.

Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait until Friday to see how this all plays out. Or, hopefully, West or Ty Dolla will provide more clarity on their expected procedures before then.

(Photo by Brian Ach/WireImage)