In the lengthy saga that has been the rollout for Kanye’s latest album, Donda, plenty of artists have been involved — in good ways and bad. While controversial features like Marilyn Manson and DaBaby have been the subject of much discussion, Ariana Grande fans were a little surprised to hear what sounded a lot like her vocals on the album’s title track when it finally dropped today.
But if you listen closely, you’ll hear slight differences that indicate it’s likely not Ari herself. First of all, she rarely AutoTuned and filters her voice to the point the female vocals on “Donda” have been altered — mostly because she simply doesn’t need to. It just hasn’t been her style in the past. And though there’s never been any public beef between Ari and Ye, they’ve never collaborated before or really been in the same realm, musically. Of course, they share a friend in Scooter Braun, but that’s about it.
All this to say, those vocals aren’t Ariana — and she confirmed as much on her Instagram Stories today, praising the actual featured artist, The Stalone, like the class act she is.
“You sound beautiful @thestalone,” Ari wrote, putting the subject to bed once and for all. She’s too busy being a blissful newlywed to work on a Kanye timeline, anyway. Check out the song in question above if you haven’t heard it yet.