Last week, Kanye West hosted a listening party for his new album at Soldier Field in his native Chicago.
The collection of songs — named for West’s late mother, Donda — has been described as Kanye’s most personal work to date, which is really saying something for an artist who’s never been shy about putting his life into his lyrics.
Of course, the spectacle of the event was as startling as the music, with Kanye pulling out all the stops in order to make the ultimate impression on his awestruck crowd.
And one of the biggest shocks was delivered by a very unexpected guest.
Yes, Kim Kardashian joined Kanye on stage, and the mother of the rapper’s four children was clad in a Balenciaga bridal gown.
As though that wasn’t enough to get the rumor mill churning, Kim and Kanye were spotted holding hands after the show.
Needless to say, either these two are back together, or they very much want people to think they are.
Knowing how much they both enjoy the spotlight, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter.
And there are quite a few signs that Kim and Kanye are still very much estranged from one another.
For starters, Kanye blasts Kim in the lyrics to his new album.
On top of that, it seems that Kim is still doing her own thing on social media, even though she’s well aware that Kanye probably wouldn’t approve.
As you may have heard, during their relationship, Kim was forced to “tone down” her Instagram content.
In other words, even though he married her knowing full well what sort of pics she posts, he later changed his mind and decided to cover up more.
So yeah, Kanye probably wouldn’t approve of the “nothing but boots” look that Kim rocked in a new photo promoting her KKW perfume.
Does this mean that Kim and Kanye are 100 percent not together?
Well no, but it’s a pretty good sign that having Kim dramatically saunter out in a wedding dress was just another one of Yeezy’s lame stunts choreographed to drum up interest in his latest project.
He was also joined on stage by newly-“canceled” artists Da Baby and Marilyn Manson.
The purpose of this stunt appears to have been nothing other than drumming up some of the tabloid headlines that seem to be as crucial as oxygen for Kanye.
Of course, the people who felt victimized by those two probably didn’t find the the situation quite so amusing.
Meanwhile, the album has garnered reviews that could best be described as “mixed.”
And yes, that’s our polite way of saying the response from the critical community has been about as positive as if Kanye had released a flaming bag of dog crap.
West acting like a jerk is as much a part of his career as his music at this point, so his latest pretentious artisté behavior certainly isn’t surprising.
But he might soon find that his fans’ patience for his theatrics will rapidly decline along with their interest in his music.