West's fourth studio album, "808s & Heartbreak" (2008), marked a radical departure from his previous releases. He largely abandoned rapping over hip-hop beats in favor of emotive, melodic singing within a stark synth-driven electropop soundscape. West stripped away samples and relied almost entirely on droning synthesizers as instruments while singing with the use of Auto-Tune. Throughout the album, he juxtaposes the electronic feel generated by Auto-Tune and distorted Roland TR-808 drum machine with lengthy strings, somber piano and tribal rhythms. Impacted by the death of his mother, Donda West, as well as the broken engagement from his fiancée, designer Alexis Phifer, he wrote more sensitive pop songs about love and relationships. West was inspired to sing thanks to words of encouragement from famed pop artist Michael Jackson. Prior to its release, West also cited inspiration from 1980s synthpop artists such as Phil Collins, Gary Numan, and Boy George and confessed an affinity with the work of post-punk and new wave groups such as Joy Division, The Police and TJ Swan. He would later describe "808s & Heartbreak" as "the first black new wave album." Discussing the album's subsequent influence on popular music, journalist Matthew Trammell for "Rolling Stone" described "808s" as "Kanye's most vulnerable work, and perhaps his most brilliant."