Kanye West’s ‘Jesus is King’ Album review

Before anyone yells at me, this is purely based on my unprofessional opinion

Kanye West is no stranger to controversy, he’s pretty much nailed the art of shock, and these days he’s really been outdoing himself. If you haven’t already heard, West has started his own church–if you’re thinking this feels a little cultish then I’m right there with you. Basically he holds sunday services across the country where he brings along a choir to help him, and I admit I think the musical aspect of it is pretty cool, but the part where Kanye steps in as preacher is too much for me. I’m pretty sure he also has plans to buy land and build a grounds for his church at some point which is very much past the line of normal behavior. Just do a quick investigation of Kanye Wests’s most recent interviews, tweets, and overall interactions with the public, and a lot of it is unsettling. But amid all his new responsiblities as a religious figure, Kanye West has still been able to whip up a new album.

“Jesus is King” was released this October and as the name suggests, it’s entirely dedicated to his faith. And while you do not necessarily need to be at the same level of devotion as Kanye West to enjoy this music, that isn’t the issue with this album. The main problem is that the music just isn’t good (please dont come for me, i’m not here to start a fight with all 250 members of the West-Kardashian-Jenner family). But the music is just not on par with some of Kanye West’s previous albums– we all just had higher expectations.

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For me, the flow of many of the songs on this album simply did not sound right. The lyrics felt a little too preachy rather than someone expressing their devotion to their own faith– it is one thing to incorporate religion into art, but it is quite another to claim that a higher power is directly speaking through you. A lot of the music was just creepy and after listening to the whole album I felt like Kanye West was yelling at me. I just can’t imagine in what setting it would be appropriate to play this album and not have people be afraid of God smiting them. For me, the most unsettling song has to be “Closed on Sunday”– the whole tone is eerie yet somehow seems like a joke from all the chick-fil-a references, it just wasn’t a good mix of two opposites. Plus, I’m not sure chick-fil-a is beloved for their religious or political stances at the moment, so maybe not the right time Kanye. In a lot of the other songs, Kanye sounded like he had just woken up and decided to record himself rapping (pLeaSe dOnT cOme FoR mE). That being said, there was at least one song I actually liked, “Follow God”, for me, is the best song on the album. 

All that being said, I’m not sure if it’s just that his vibe has recently felt alarming and that has been able to seep into his music, or he was trying to convert people through this album, but relistening to “Jesus is King” is probably not an experience I’m going to actively try and relive. I wish Kanye the best of luck in his endeavors and applaud him for the effort he put into creating this album, but I think ill just move on from this one and wait for what he releases next.

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