Rapper Kanye West announces new album Bully

Kanye West has announced a new album, Bully.

The Bound 2 hitmaker — who released his two Vultures LPs with Ty Dolla $ign earlier this year — has previewed the first track from the upcoming record, Beauty and the Beast, during his listening event at Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China, on Saturday.

He told the audience in footage circulating on social media: “I got a new album coming out. The album’s called Bully, and this song is called Beauty and the Beast.”

The track featured a soft instrumental and Kanye singing lyrics that included: “I still think about it every night and day to try to stay away, to keep my audience / Don’t take this disrespect, I’m sitting here trying to redirect.”

The 47-year-old rapper’s longtime collaborator Mike Dean suggested the track was a leftover from Kanye’s 2021 album Donda.

Commenting on an Instagram post about the news, he simply wrote: “Donda leftover.”

Hours after his performance, Kanye took to his own Instagram account to share an image from the concert along with the caption: “BULLY.”

Kanye returned to China earlier this month for his first performance in 16 years alongside Ty to promote their Vultures collaborations.

During the listening party on 15 September, the Stronger hitmaker revealed he was planning a new solo album and debuted another new song, Preacher Man.

While it is currently unknown when Bully will be released, Kanye’s releases have been hit by delays in recent times.

The first Vultures record was released in February after being pushed back by months, while the second was due to follow on 8 March but didn’t hit streaming services until 3 August.

In addition, Kanye has previously teased albums including TurboGrax16, Yandhi, and Love Everyone, but none ever materialised as proper records.