“The Life of Pablo” is here and the world cannot get enough of it.
Kanye West’s seventh album, “The Life of Pablo”, is finally out after months of anticipation. Unfortunately, to the disappointment of thousands, the album is only on Tidal, Jay Z’s streaming service created in March of last year.
There was plenty of drama behind the release of West’s album. First, West could not decide on what to name his album. As previously stated, the album has taken on four different names before its release. West even asked people via Twitter on what the album should be called. West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, ran a Twitter poll asking what the album should be called. At the time, the poll only had three options: “So Help Me God,” “Swish,” and “Waves.” Despite all of the votes, none of these would be the final name of the album.
A few days later, West tweeted the acronym “T.L.O.P.” and said whoever guessed what it stood for would get a free pair of West’s popular shoe called Yeezy’s, and tickets to his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show in Madison Square Garden on the 11th. 33 people guessed the album title correctly, and received emails from West’s creative director. February 11 would also be the date West announced that his album would be released.
When the 11th finally arrived, all eyes were on West’s Twitter page, looking for the album. To the dismay of many, West’s fashion show was also a listening party for the album, which was only available on Tidal. Many thought that the album would be released after the show, but it was nowhere to be found.
That Saturday, West was scheduled to perform on the popular show, Saturday Night Live. For his act, West performed new songs: “Ultralight Beam,” “I Love Kanye,” and “Highlights.” It became pretty predictable that West would drop his album after SNL, and that is exactly what he did. During the end of the last song of his performance, West announced that the long awaited T.L.O.P. is finally available exclusively on Tidal.
Sadly, when people opened their Tidal apps, the album was still nowhere to be found. The album released was botched, and people immediately took to Twitter to voice their dissatisfaction and frustrations.
Along with the mishandled release, many other people were frustrated because they do not have Tidal and do not want to go through the hassle of signing up. The frustration is understandable because Tidal subscription prices are extremely high, with a regular subscription costing $12.99 and the premium subscription costing $25.99. People like junior Kyle Bethea were extremely enraged by the exclusive release.
“I’m just waiting for it to come out on Spinrilla, becasue Tidal prices suck,” Bethea said.
The people like junior Ian Liboro were not as upset. Tidal gives people a certain amount of time to use the app before they have to pay the ridiculous prices for the subscriptions.
“It’s okay because Tidal is free for a month, so I have no problem with it,” Liboro said.
Despite all of the delays and complications, according to all who listened to it, “The Life of Pablo” ranking high amongst his other albums.
“It’s his third best album behind College Dropout and Graduation. Those were great albums,” said senior Beghad Elharazi.