--- title: Petition Begs Obama to Force the Release of Kanye West's Next Album description: A White House petition—since removed—demands the rapper release the album on Aug. 21. canonical: https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-12T23:33:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:23:22.720Z og:title: Petition Asks Obama to Order Release of Next Kanye West Album og:description: Fans are demanding the album drop on Aug. 21. og:url: https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbab804669702999/69885f05428a9e7bf3cce9f3/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4926 og:image:height: 2771 og:image:alt: kanye west og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Petition Asks Obama to Order Release of Next Kanye West Album twitter:description: Fans are demanding the album drop on Aug. 21. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbab804669702999/69885f05428a9e7bf3cce9f3/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Asking Obama to Order Kanye West to Release His Next Album > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Aug 12, 2015 11:33 PM UTC  Kanye West preforms during the closing ceremony on Day 16 of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games on July 26, 2015 in Toronto. Kanye West preforms during the closing ceremony on Day 16 of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games on July 26, 2015 in Toronto. Ezra Shaw—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Aug 12, 2015 11:33 PM UTC If you seriously cannot wait anymore for Kanye West’s next album, you’re not alone. A White House petition, [since removed for violating Terms of Participation](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/make-kanye-drop-swish-august-21st), circulated on Wednesday asking President Obama to use his executive powers to force the release of West’s long-awaited album, _Swish_. “Kanye West has kept us thirsty for too long,” the petition read. “We haven’t gotten any new singles in months. The President should order Ye to drop the album on the date August, 21st \[sic\] as his producer Mike Dean has been teasing people about.” West’s album release timeline has been sporadic with both the rapper and his producer remaining tight-lipped about details. In March, West released the single [“All Day,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfQOawFwx6w) and announced a new name for his album [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/594928453675159553) [in May](http://time.com/3844868/kanye-west-album-title/). His last album, _Yeezus_, was released in June of 2013. One big error in the petition? West never announced an official release date. As Dean [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5F7-4XlLXOg0) _Montreality_ earlier this week, “whenever Kanye says it’s done, it’s done.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/"},"headline":"People Are Asking Obama to Order Kanye West to Release His Next Album","datePublished":"2015-08-12T23:33:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:23:22.720Z","description":"We're all tired of waiting, apparently","url":"https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music","Kanye West","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbab804669702999/69885f05428a9e7bf3cce9f3/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbab804669702999/69885f05428a9e7bf3cce9f3/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"kanye west","caption":"kanye west","creditText":"Ezra Shaw—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3995345/kanye-west-obama-swish-petition/","name":"People Are Asking Obama to Order Kanye West to Release His Next Album"}}]}] ```