Ariana Grande is setting the record straight. After the surprise drop of Kanye West‘s highly anticipated album Donda on Sunday (Aug. 29), Grande’s fans noticed background vocals in the album’s title track that sounded remarkably similar to the “Positions” singer.
As it turns out, the vocals heard on “Donda” do not belong to Grande, as she has since clarified in a new post to her Instagram Stories.
Grande laid the rumors to rest in a short but sweet message on her Stories Monday (Aug. 30), and revealed the true singer behind the background vocals. “You sound so beautiful @thestalone,” Grande wrote, reposting singer Stalone’s Instagram about working on the vocals heard on Donda.
“Vocals under MB Stadium in #atl before the start of #DONDA 2…The entire album is a masterpiece. I’m so grateful,” Stalone had written on her own Instagram post. She also tweeted to share the song’s credits and tell fans how flattered she was that her vocals were compared to Grande’s.
Despite receiving largely positive reviews from fans about the quality of the record, West is apparently unsatisfied with the release of Donda and claims that Universal Music Group released the album without his consent. In a Instagram post from Sunday, West wrote, “UNIVERSAL PUT MY ALBUM OUT WITHOUT MY APPROVAL AND THEY BLOCKED JAIL 2 FROM BEING ON THE ALBUM.”
“Jail pt 2,” featuring DaBaby and Marilyn Manson, was unavailable on streaming services at the time of the album’s release, but later became available on Sunday afternoon. West reportedly addressed the delay in a since-deleted Instagram post with text messages that alleged the song wasn’t being released due to clearance issues from DaBaby. The original version of the song, which featured Jay-Z, was the version to appear on Donda.
Stalone joins a long list of collaborators on Donda, which also features appearances from The Weeknd and Lil Baby (“Hurricane”), Travis Scott (“Praise God”), Pusha T, Roddy Ricch (“Donda”), and more.
See Stalone’s tweet below:
