Kanye West’s “Donda Experience Performance” event, marking the premiere of his new album and Donda sequel Donda 2, took place on February 22 at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Billed as a “DONDA 2 listening and DONDA 1 performance” by West on Instagram, the event’s livestream happened at Imax theaters, on West’s Stem Player website, and on YouTube.
After over two hours of heartbeat noise, the show began with a house on fire and a new song that appeared to feature posthumous vocals from XXXTentacion. As multiple new songs played in the stadium, West danced near the flaming house while wading through water. He shared “Flowers,” which he teased with his Stem Player exclusivity announcement, and “Eazy.”
West was joined in the water by Migos as a new song featuring Baby Keem and the trio played. The next two songs featured Future, who is said to have executive produced the album. The latter, “Pablo,” also featured Travis Scott. Pusha T appeared in the stadium as his new single “Diet Coke” played.
A subsequent song called “Louis Bag” opened with a sample of Vice President Kamala Harris’ “We did it, Joe” phone call. It featured Jack Harlow (who appeared at the event), and West’s repeated line, “We stopped buying Louis bags after Virgil passed.” It was followed by another song featuring Future. A sample of Kim Kardashian West’s Saturday Night Live monologue about Kanye West opened the next track (though not the punchline: “So, when I divorced him, you have to know it came down to just one thing: his personality!”). The next song began with a TikTok-popular Empire sample.
The event pivoted to a live performance, which featured the Sunday Service choir and multiple songs from Donda. Marilyn Manson, who is facing multiple sexual assault lawsuits and is the subject of a new documentary that outlines allegations of abuse, once again joined West and DaBaby during “Jail.” Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys delivered a live performance of the new single “City of Gods.” Soulja Boy appeared to be featured on “Fist Time in a Long Time” amid an on-again, off-again feud with West. The event ended with a performance of “Off the Grid” that featured Playboi Carti (in apparent Joker makeup) and Fivio Foreign.
Donda 2 will purportedly be made available exclusively through West’s Donda Stem Player. He claimed that he turned down a $100 million deal from Apple, choosing instead to release the album via his own platform. In late January, West had announced that Donda 2 would arrive on February 22, but it did not appear online or on the stem players at midnight. So far, four songs—“Security,” “Pablo,” “Open Road,” and “We Did It Kid”—are available at Stem Player.
West has lately become an avid Instagrammer, using his page to share (and typically delete) controversial posts, often about Kim Kardashian West, as well as her rumored boyfriend Pete Davidson. Among the first of West’s recent incendiary posts was a criticism of his oldest daughter North West’s TikTok use. He also harassed Davidson directly. Due to West’s anger with Davidson, he also appeared to cut ties with Kid Cudi—a friend of Davidson’s. West, on February 12, said that Cudi would not appear on Donda 2. Cudi had previously appeared alongside West on Donda’s “Moon.”
Since the August 2021 release of Donda, West has co-headlined the Amazon-sponsored Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert with Drake and was announced as a Coachella headliner. The first part of the Jeen-Yuhs documentary about his life premiered at Sundance, and he had been a mainstay in the tabloids due to his relationship with actress Julia Fox. (Fox and West broke up in February after a couple of months together.) Plus, he legally changed his name to Ye, which is also the name of his 2018 studio album.
West first announced Donda in July 2020. Almost exactly one year later on July 22, West hosted the first Donda listening party at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The album was initially slated for a July 23 release but was pushed to August 6. West held a second listening event, again at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, on August 5. The performance ended with West being lifted skyward as his song “No Child Left Behind” played. Although Donda had yet to materialize, West launched the Donda Stem Player, allowing anyone to customize the album’s songs. On August 26, West hosted a third Donda event, this time at Chicago’s Soldier Field. This performance featured a replica of his childhood home, an appearance from Manson, and a recreation of his wedding with Kim Kardashian West. Donda was finally released on August 29.
Read Alphonse Pierre’s “Ranking Every Guest Appearance on Kanye West’s Donda From Worst to Best” on the Pitch.
Donda 2:
Security
Lift Me Up [ft. Vory]
Get Lost
Pablo [ft. Future and Travis Scott]
True Love [ft. XXXTentacion]
Keep it Burnin’
Broken Road [ft. Don Toliver]
Too Easy/I’m Finna Love Me
Sci-Fi
We Did It Kid [ft. Migos]
Flowers
Maintenance 530
Mr. Miyagi [ft. Future and Playboi Carti]
First Time in a Long Time [ft. Soulja Boy]
Louis Bag [ft. Jack Harlow]
This article was originally published on Tuesday, February 22 at 8:06 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on Thursday, February 24 at 9:18 a.m. Eastern.
