OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)

Official cover for OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)

***OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)*** is the eighth re-recorded album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart, released on November 27, 2023, through Sunset Records. It is a re-recording of Stewart's eighth studio album, *OPERATION CANCELLED.* (2015), and the eighth and final re-recorded albums Stewart plans to release, following the dispute regarding ownership of the masters to his first eight studio albums. The album consists of fourteen additional "from the Vault" songs not included on the 2015 album. Aside from recreating the instrumentation of the 2015 recording, there are also a few re-arrangements for most of the tracks and a few instrumental tracks were added that were supposedly included on the final cut but ended up just on the demos. All of the songs were written solely by Stewart.

Three of its tracks "OUT OF ORDER. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)", "RUNOVER. (FROM THE VAULT)", and "NO REMORSE. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)" peaked inside the top two, with two of them peaking at #1. Just like the original version, the album received widespread acclaim, with its stronger delivery and the vault tracks that were considered the deeper and darker cuts compared to the original cuts. The re-recorded album was released digitally on all digital and streaming platforms without prior announcement or promotion. The album experienced massive success, debuting at #1 on all countries and became Stewart's best-selling re-recorded album.

## Background and Production

In November 2015, Stewart released his eighth studio album and first full rap album *OPERATION CANCELLED.,* after a long hiatus. The album's hip-hop production established Stewart's official departure from the rock and grunge-oriented styles of his previous records. The album was met with widespread acclaim, becoming his most critically-acclaimed release at the time, and also experienced massive success, propelling Stewart back to mainstream status. It became his first Diamond certified album in America after *In Colors* (2007) and debuted at #1 on all countries. It became the best-selling album of 2015 and 2016, selling 11 million pure copies as of December 2026. It was supported by six singles throughout 2015-2017, "OUT OF ORDER.", "HOAX.", "BRAP BRAP PEW PEW.", "NO REMORSE.", "SMASH.", and "LUST.".

In 2016, having recorded eight studio albums under Sunrise Records, Stewart's contract with the label expired. He signed a new contract with rival record label Sunset Records. In 2017, Sunrise Records was acquired by Stewart's former friend and business partner Zark Mockingbird and his company The Blackstone Group Inc. As part of the acquisition, ownership of the masters to Stewart's first eight studio albums, including *Sweet Dreams*, transferred to Mockingbird. The master is the first recording of an audio recording, from which copies are made for sales and distribution; the owner of the master, therefore, owns all copies, such as digital versions for download or on streaming platforms, or physical versions available on CDs and vinyl records. In August 2017, Stewart denounced the purchase, and announced his intention to re-record his first eight studio albums so as to own their masters. Stewart stated on his Tumblr blog that Sunrise Records promised him as early as 1997 that he could buy the masters of his catalog with a condition, if only his next albums would sell a lot more and earn more money for the label to pay for the business contract, but they still didn't allow him to. In November 2017, Mockingbird sold Stewart's masters, videos and artworks, to The Blackstone Group Inc. for a reported $1.3 billion. Stewart began re-recording his back catalog in December 2017.

During the conception of the album, Stewart invited back rapper Aisha Ile and his brother Mitch to re-record the additional vocals for "911. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)". A few re-arrangements were done on all of the tracks. Stewart also studied the delivery of the 2015 album. He also included the reversed versions of all the tracks and combined them with the standard tracks, instead of releasing them in a separate album.

## Artwork

Just like the original album cover, the album cover of the re-recorded version is also in greyscale except it is brightened more rather than being darkened. Stewart also cut his hair short to match the haircut of the *OPERATION CANCELLED.* era, which became one of his fashion highlights. The photo was also taken the same day the album cover of *Nicholas (Nicky's Version)* is taken, to ensure that Stewart's haircut is identical. On the back view of the CD case shows the cover of the reversed edition, where the image is flipped both vertically and horizontally and was darkened.

## Release and promotion

*Nicholas (Nicky's Version)*, the re-recording of Stewart's eponymous 1997 debut album and the seventh of his eight re-recorded albums, was released on September 4, 2023 to critical and commercial success. Ever since the reveal of the album cover, people have been hyped about the re-recording of his 2015 album *OPERATION CANCELLED.* (which was the only re-recording that wasn't released that time) because of Stewart's new haircut. For a span of months, there haven't been any announcements from Stewart yet about any of his re-recordings aside from performances and promotions.

On November 27, 2023, Stewart's final re-recorded album *OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)* was released at midnight, Eastern Time without any prior announcement or promotion on all digital and streaming platforms. Stewart used the marketing strategy identical to the surprise release of the original version of "OUT OF ORDER." which was the lead single of the 2015 album. Physical copies of the album were distributed three days later on all record stores, as well as the Target edition on all Target stores. Each physical copy contains two discs, the first disc featured the normal tracks while the second disc is the reversed tracks.

## Critical reception

Just like the original version, *OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)* was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 98, based on 39 reviews. Most critics praised Stewart's stronger delivery of the tracks and the necessary addition of the vault tracks. Some also tagged it the re-recorded version of the original tracks as the "re-telling of a tragic story" and the additional vault tracks as "flashbacks and traumas after the incident". Most of review sites gave the album 5 over 5 stars and has surpassed Stewart's 2017 album *Ozymandias* as the album with most sites giving it 5 over 5 stars.

## Commercial performance

*OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)* debuted at #1 on all countries. It debuted atop the *Billboard* 200, with 853,000 album-equivalent units moved in its first week, of which 456,000 were pure copies and 397,000 units from streaming, garnering 595.5M on-demand streams, making it his fastest-selling re-recording. It marked Stewart's twenty-third number one album in the US. As of 2028, the album was certified triple platinum by RIAA, becoming his best-selling re-recorded album.

## Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by Nicholas Stewart.

**Side A** - standard edition

**Side B** - reversed edition

## Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes and Tidal.

### Musicians

* Nicholas Stewart - piano (track 1), lead vocals (all tracks)
* Aisha Ile - additional vocals (track 4)
* Mitch Stewart - additional vocals (track 4)

### Producers and engineers

* Nicholas Stewart – piano (track 1), production (all tracks), recording (all tracks), executive production, mixing, mastering

### Artwork

* Nicholas Stewart – art direction
* Wolf Haley – art direction
* Luis "Panch" Perez – cover photography

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

**Peak chart positions for *OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)***

### Year-end charts

**Year-end chart positions for *OPERATION CANCELLED. (NOT THE CANCELLED VERSION)***

 Canada Top Albums
 European Top 100 Albums
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
 UK Albums (OCC)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)
 Chart (2025)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)
 Chart (2026)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)
 Chart (2027)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)
 Chart (2028)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)
 Chart (2029)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (*Billboard*)

## Certifications and sales

 United Kingdom (BPI)
 United States (RIAA)
 Europe (IFPI)
 Worldwide