Listening to Kanye West’s new album “808s and Heartbreak,” released Nov. 24, is more like reading a sad diary entry than listening to an album by one of hip-hop’s greatest.

Abandoning his signature rap style, West makes a foray into more traditional singing, with nearly constant help from pitch correction technology. The result is an album that sounds robotic and empty. The unnatural pitches make even the most heartfelt songs sound like they are missing soul and even talent.

“Say You Will,” the album’s first track, sets the mood for the rest of the album with its somber lyrics and slow drum beat. The beat holds promise, but West fails to deliver any surprise with the song.

The next track is the more upbeat “Welcome to Heartbreak,” featuring Kid Cudi. The song is full of regret-filled and witty lyrics about how West is missing out on parts of life because of his celebrity status. The track definitely shows a different side of West, as he sings, “Chased the good life, all my life long/ look back on my life, all my life gone/ where did I go wrong?”

It seems as if the old West is almost back in the album’s third track, “Heartless.” The lyrics aren’t the most profound but the beat is danceable and West flirts with his old rhyming style, which is refreshing.

“Heartless” is tied with the seventh track, “RoboCop,” for best song on the album. “RoboCop” has an interesting background instrumental and features West singing at the end without help from auto-tune. His natural vocals are nothing to write home about but it is a nice break from the robotic vocals on the rest of the album.

“Paranoid,” featuring Mr. Hudson, is one of the album’s unlistenable tracks. The beat, which could have been from a bad ’80s song, drowns out the vocal melody and lyrics that are at least decent.

“Love Lockdown,” “Amazing,” “Street Lights” and “Bad News” are four songs which contribute close to nothing to the album. They might include some heartfelt lyrics but they all move quite slow. “Love Lockdown,” which West first debuted at the MTV Music Awards, has an interesting drum beat but fails to impress. “Amazing” is sung with the same dull melody throughout the entire track until Young Jeezy starts rapping about two-and-a-half minutes into the song. “Street Lights” and “Bad News” are slow-moving and uninteresting.

“See You in My Nightmares,” featuring Lil Wayne, is a highlight of the album as West sounds almost angry singing about breaking off a bad relationship. Lil Wayne and West are a good musical pair and their voices mesh well in the track.

It’s apparent that West has gone through some hardships in his life, from a near-death accident to his mother’s sudden death. As a coping device or a collection of slow pop songs, this album thrives, but for those expecting something bigger and better than the three albums previous, “808s and Heartbreak” falls short. It is frustrating to see the musical genius who delivered “Graduation” use all of his talent and resources to deliver this average and often boring album.

On the other hand, West was bound to change his style eventually, and his fearlessness in dramatically switching styles is impressive. West deserves a pat on the back for bravely releasing the overwhelming honest “808s and Heartbreak,” and although the delivery might be dull, the heart behind it is obvious.

For hip-hop’s sake, let’s pray West cheers up soon.

Kristen Duwe can be reached at [email protected].