There is no one quite like Kanye West. No other artist has so constantly made people guess whether he knows what he is doing; often, it seems like he himself is unsure. This is the one of the reasons “The Life of Pablo” is so great – it sounds like a representation of West himself.

One of the main complaints about the album is that it often feels very unfocused, especially in comparison to West’s prior albums. The point is valid; the album starts with the heavily gospel-tinged “Ultralight Beam” and goes off in multiple directions from there, from the Yeezus-lite noise of “Feedback” to the more club friendly sounds of “Fade”.

The lyrics themselves often vary wildly in terms of how they address a particular topic, mainly the trappings of fame. They can range from humorous (“No More Parties in LA”), profound (“Real Friends”), to kind of creepy (“Famous,” which features the infamous Taylor Swift line).

In fact, the album itself was fairly confusing prior to release. It went through various name changes, cover art changes, tracklist changes, and more. West released multiple singles prior to release that make no appearance on the album, and it was heavily implied through some of his statements that he was still working on it even hours before it was released.

All of this leads one to believe that the album is not rough and varied by accident. If West wanted to fix it, he probably would have fixed it before releasing it. But instead, he released it as it is, and what it is is the best representation of West himself. It is, at turns, creepy, charming, and heartbreaking, but most of all, it is just a good album.