I had my doubts at first when the project was announced.
I admit I played the leak before I bough it on November 24th. Being that it's a Kanye record, I had to give it a full listen.
Coldest winter was the song that hit me the most and was my favorite then. I heard the first leaked version of Welcome to Hearbreak and I loved that first beat, and was a bit disappointed when I heard the finished version. I was wishing he had kept the synths throughout, but when I heard how the beat had a better climax with the synths being brought at the end, I understand what Kanye did and I fell in love with the track.
I thought it was a good album, found myself playing it a lot, then I had a moment with Bad news one day, those strings at the end are so amazing.
The biggest surprise was Say you will, I just found myself playing and analyzing the song like no other Kanye song I had ever done, and it became my favorite piece that Kanye has done so far in his career.
Currently, I hold the album to such a high standard. I think it's a masterpiece. No album from Kanye flows as effortlessly as 808s & Heartbreak. The transitions between the tracks are flawless, the best being Say you will to Welcome to Heartbreak.
Though this album is the simplest one in terms of production, in my opinion it shows that Kanye has truly mastered music with this body of work.