Kanye West Doesn’t Release ‘Jesus Is King’ & Fans Are Righteously Furious

View gallery

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and Kanye West, 42, has to delay his ninth studio album. After waiting a year for this promised album, fans watched as the Sept. 27 deadline came and went without a single sign of Jesus Is King. Amid the growing reports that JIK wasn’t ready and that Kanye was going to delay this project yet again, some fans still hoped JIK would drop as planned. When the album didn’t show up, the faithful became furious.

“I miss the old Kanye, what I really mean by saying that is, the old Kanye actually released albums on the release date that he said the music would be out. Will Jesus Is King come out when Yandhi finally does?” one fan tweeted. Oof. Another Twitter user took a jab at Ye’s punctuality when it comes to releasing music, writing, “kanye really lied to us…again.” Many others simply tweeted photos and GIFs of clowns, since they felt foolish to believe JIK would actually land on their playlists at the promised time.

“It’s Kanye so who knows but I’m hearing from many industry people that “Jesus Is King” is not coming on Friday, despite people on the ground in Wyoming trying to make it happen,” New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli tweeted on Sept. 25, one of the earliest signs that JIK wasn’t going to make the planned deadline. On the same day, Variety also reported that Jesus Is King was going to be delayed. The publication also reported that a meeting between Def Jam executives and Kanye “recently took place” at his home base in Wyoming. While what exactly was said at this meeting remains unknown, it was reportedly a “Come to Yeezus”-type meeting.

Live look at me waiting for Jesus Is King to drop: pic.twitter.com/XdEksmxomw

— Chase Counter (@ChaseCounter) September 27, 2019

Contrary to this reporting, Kim Kardashian seemed optimistic that JIK would be released on schedule. She retweeted a message from user @colinags on Sept. 25 that read “2 more days Jesus Is King.” Kim was actually the first person to spread the word of Jesus Is King, tweeting a photo of a tracklist on Aug. 29. Below the list of Christian-themed song titles was a date: “September 27.” Among the songs was “Water,” which Kanye performed at his Sunday Services earlier in 2019, including at the one held at Coachella on Easter Sunday. Kanye was reportedly planning a special Sunday Service performance in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 27 to coincide with Jesus Is King‘s release.

Me thinking #JesusIsKing is dropping tonight pic.twitter.com/SrhG5eZk9m

— connor 🌈 (@conjack234) September 27, 2019

Jesus Is King is likely a completely different album from Yandhi, the record Kanye was supposedly going to drop in 2018. Yandhi — which, when comparing their similar album artwork, was thought of a possible spiritual successor to 2013’s Yeezus — was supposed to be released on Sep. 29, 2018. This was to coincide with Kanye’s appearance on Saturday Night Live. Spoiler alert: it didn’t show up as promised. After pushing it back to “Black Friday,” Kanye tweeted that he was shelving the project. “It felt so good being on the stage last night with my brother [Kid Cudi,]” he tweeted on Nov. 13, 2019. “After performing again, I realize the new album I’ve been working on isn’t ready yet. I’ll announce the release date once it’s done. Thank you for understanding.” Hopefully, fans can be “understanding” about this.