Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, released his twelfth studio album “Bully” on March 28. The project marks his first since the “Vultures” duology with rapper Ty Dolla Sign, and his first solo album since “Donda 2” in 2022.

If you are reading a Ye album review, you are no doubt familiar with his actions in the past couple of years, and this review will not give any platform to such views or actions. Given that, I cannot help but be fascinated with the air around “Bully.” After a public apology in Jan., Ye is attempting to frame the album as a return to form, with a musical style closer to past records and his first true concert tour in ten years.

It would’ve helped, then, if “Bully” had actually been a return to form.

On a song-by-song basis, the album is not terrible. The front half of “Bully” is loaded with songs like “All the Love,” a sublime retro romp supplanted by Andre Toutmann. The record’s sole single, “Father” with Travis Scott, is a bass-heavy standout reminiscent of Ye’s golden years. There is more singing from Ye than usual, with serviceable solos on tracks like “White Lines.”

Multiple songs clock in at under two minutes, and these constitute some of the album’s higher points. “Punch Drunk” and “Beauty and the Beast” are solid, laidback and feel complete. Fittingly, the most fleshed-out ideas are on one-minute-long songs with one idea.

The true problem with the album is its focus. Ye makes his grand comeback with little new to say, and the album feels like a desperate grasp for relevance with none of the vision of his musical prime. No matter how controversial or innovative he is, Ye’s career, artistry and audaciousness have been impossible to ignore. No one, however, could be judged if “Bully” flew under their radar. The album seems to serve no other role than to fill a bullet point in Ye’s discography, and it seems perfectly fine with that.

To be clear, this conclusion has very little to do with his reputation. Even if you have the desire to pay your time and money to listen to Ye, you are far better off re-listening to “Graduation” or “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Those albums, at least, make the listener feel things.

“Bully” is Ye’s most coherent album in almost a decade, and probably his most hollow. It is best described simply as an album made of music, and you will leave with no greater impression.

5/10 (Must-listens: “All the Love,” “Punch Drunk”)