Kim Kardashian was wearing a wedding dress when she attended the final “listening party” for her future ex-husband Kanye West’s new album.
Her appearance was one of the eclectic publicity gimmicks at the event in West’s hometown of Chicago.
The event also attended controversial rapper DaBaby and rock star Marilyn Manson, who recently denied multiple sexual abuse allegations.
West also revealed a replica of his childhood home.
Almost 40,000 fans were invited to Soldier Field Stadium, where participants were offered vaccinations on site.
It’s the third time he’s thrown a listening party for Donda, his 10th studio album named after his late mother.
However, the billionaire rapper, songwriter and businessman’s album has had several delays since its promised release last year.
This listening party was his third, and it started two hours late – but his team said that this time the album would actually be released soon after.
West, who recently filed papers to change his name to Ye, has been working on finalizing the album for several weeks.
She may have filed for divorce from West in February, but that didn’t dampen Kardashian’s excitement to be there with the couple’s four children in a Balenciaga wedding dress during No Child Left Behind, the final song of the night.
Unsurprisingly, this led fans to speculate that the couple might get back together.
West made his first appearance of the evening when he emerged from his replica house while the word Donda was repeated as his mother’s black and white footage and photo collages were transferred onto a giant canvas.
Accompanied by Manson and DaBaby, the three musicians stood on the veranda of the replica house, surrounded by dancers in masks and dark uniforms, while a cavalcade of SUV cars drove around the building.
West was joined by rocker Manson, who faces multiple sexual abuse allegations, which he denies. In February, Manson was dropped from his record label after actress Evan Rachel Wood alleged she was “horribly abused” by the musician.
Rapper DaBaby, who recently apologized for his comments about gay men and people living with HIV, appeared to have replaced Jay-Z in verse with one of the album’s tracks called Jail.
During an appearance at Rolling Loud in Miami last month, DaBaby invited every viewer to “light up their cell phones” except those who were HIV positive or gay men who had sex in parking lots. He also made the false claim that HIV “will kill you in two or three weeks”.
The rapper later said the comments were “hurtful and arousing” and that he appreciated the “education” he has received since then.
DaBaby was removed from the line-ups of several US music festivals and dropped by clothing company Boohoo after his initial comments.
West emerged from his house in a flamesuit before teaming up with Kim Kardashian, again causing too much excitement from his fans. He appeared to be unharmed with the suit that gave him fireproof protection.
West’s mother was an English professor at Chicago State University, who died in 2007 at the age of 58 of complications from plastic surgery.
The album named after her also includes contributions from The Weeknd and Travis Scott, as well as a sample from Lauryn Hill.
Donda West’s death wreaked havoc on her Grammy-winning son, who also named a creative content company after her.
Since West last released an album, the gospel-inspired Jesus Is King from 2019, he has also started a failed bid for the office of US president.
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