Ye has been largely prevalent on social media in the past several years regarding his controversial and antisemetic opinions. His most recent albums, “DONDA 2,” “VULTURES 2” and “VULTURES 1” have been some of his lowest rated albums in the entirety of his discography. Some of his worst songs, musically and morally, have been part of these albums. Regardless, “BULLY,” Ye’s latest album, feels like a breath of fresh air. Although it is not even close to as good as his early releases, it is a significant improvement from the last six years.
The album opens with “KING and “THIS A MUST,” creating an open that depicts the vibe of the rest of the songs. The beats in either song are powerful, and have unproblematic lyrics. “FATHER” (feat. Travis Scott) is one of the best songs of the album. It is very high-energy with a similar energy to “KING,” until the transition to Travis Scott which tastefully adds to the song, while keeping the overall feel the same.
“FATHER” is followed by “ALL THE LOVE” (feat. Andre Troutman), the longest song in the album. The song showcases more of Ye’s vocals, with heavy auto-tune. “ALL THE LOVE” is one of my favorites of the album because of the emotion and apologetic feel opposed to some of his other songs feeling somewhat monotone. “PUNCH DRUNK” has a similar energy, while sounding very nostalgic. “WHATEVER WORKS” feels somewhat forgettable; however, he references his recent apologies to the Jewish and Black communities. Throughout this album, I could feel Ye attempting to reframe and reset his career after all of the isolating actions he has taken.
“BULLY” (feat. CeeLo Green) is the title track of the album, and is the most original sound. The vocal additions from CeeLo Green add depth and highlight the sound. “HIGHS AND LOWS” is a personal favorite to many with some of the most vocals from Ye. The song is about his appreciation for his fans for sticking with him, through his “highs and lows.”
In “LAST BREATH” (feat. Peso Pluma), Ye attempts to sing in Spanish, yet sounded like a joke. Little effort was perceived into sounding authentic whatsoever. Many found this to be one of the worst songs of the album, and almost offensive because of the lack of effort.
Most of the songs in the album are very short, and personally, too short as they feel like there’s more to be said. In the early years of Ye, his most famous songs were all generally longer and had more variation within the song. “BULLY’s” songs had many of the right parts, yet felt incomplete. Overall, the album is a significant improvement from Ye’s recent history and lacks the offensive and harmful lyrics that have plagued his previous works. I would rate the album 3.9/5 stars, and the album can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
