As concerts, tours and sporting events continue to be canceled around the globe due to coronavirus concerns, TIDAL is following suit.
On Thursday afternoon (March 12), the company announced the three listening parties scheduled for Jay Electronica’s long-delayed debut album, A Written Testimony, have been canceled.
“At TIDAL, the health and wellbeing of our employees, members, and artist-partners is our top priority,” the statement reads. “Based on the guidance of health officials and the growing impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) around the country, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel all of tonight’s listening events for Jay Electronica’s ‘A Written Testimony.'”
However, TIDAL confirmed the album would still arrive on the streaming service at midnight on Friday (March 13).
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“We know the artist and our members were looking forward to this event; we were too,” the statement concluded, “and will be listening to the album along with everyone else once available on TIDAL. Thank you to all our members for their understanding.”
The listening parties for a A Written Testimony were scheduled for Thursday night in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York.
[This article has been updated. The following was published on March 11, 2020.]
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The nearly mythical debut album from Jay Electronica is about to become a reality. According to a tweet from TIDAL, the streaming service has coordinated three listening parties for the album — titledA Written Testimony — in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans.
“It’s time,” the tweet reads. “We’re giving @JayElectronica fans an exclusive first listen of his album ‘A Written Testimony’ with 3 intimate events in NY, LA, & New Orleans.”
It’s time. We're giving @JayElectronica fans an exclusive first listen of his album 'A Written Testimony' with 3 intimate events in NY, LA, & New Orleans.
RSVP: https://t.co/gRl7iexHD8pic.twitter.com/gzcSdcw2wB
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) March 11, 2020
Jay teased the project on Twitter last month after nearly 10 years of delays. During a series of tweets, he revealed JAY-Z is on the project and said the album was created over a 40-day period beginning last December.
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Jay Electronica Claims His Debut Album Is Done & Dropping In March 2020
A Written Testimony will mark the NOLA-bred MC’s first project since signing with Roc Nation in 2010.
In an interview with DJ Booth last May, Jay’s engineer Mike Chav addressed his long hiatus.
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“Act I went fast,” he said. “That was done in a week. So I think that at any point again, it could go fast. I know it’s completely within the realm of possibility. Maybe people are like, ‘Oh it’s too late for him, he missed his chance.’ But I don’t think he ever really missed his chance, and I think he realizes this, you know?
“He doesn’t care. He just does what he wants to do. And you can’t count him out. I feel like he’s a good example … It may not be the popular example, but there’s young artists that are paying attention and see the value in what he’s doing. It’s not like he’s the first to do this. There have always been a lot of artists who’ve taken long hiatuses and come back and been great.”
The listening parties are all scheduled to take place on Thursday (March 12). Find tickets here.
