Same stories, different album: Drake tests powers of time and patience
Certified Lover Boy didn’t live up to the hype.
ALBUM COVER COURTESY OVO/REPUBLIC RECORDS
By Chantal Brown
Drake told the same stories on a different album with the release of long-awaited “Certified Lover Boy” on Sept. 3.
This drop marks the Canadian rapper’s sixth studio album, but there is a very thin line between nostalgia and emotional stunting. The 21-song track list justifies the three-year wait since his last album.
The songs follow the same pattern, mixing smooth old-school samples with bass-filled club anthems and an afrobeat or two. Once again, we plug our headphones and hearts into Drake’s declarations of industry beef, family ties and maybe, some love.
The first words that fans hear on the album are “I love you,” but the lyrics of “Champagne Poetry” are filled with the artist expressing the love he is not receiving.
He laments over people around him and from his city only using him for his stardom and captions under pictures posted on social media. He starts the album out looking for his soulmate, but the tone changes halfway through the album with the song “Pipe Down,” where he engages in a heated argument with a presumed significant other, whilst throwing his successes back in her face.
Of course a Drake album would not be complete without the mellow, yet manipulative, serenades that appear in “TSU” and his collaboration “Girls Want Girls” with Atlanta rapper Lil Baby.
“TSU” is another rendition of Drake’s fascination with independent women. “Girls Want Girls” is also the familiar fantasy rappers like to play out in their head where they sexualize being with a woman who also likes women.
However, according to a Sept. 7 Forbes article, Drake earned the biggest global Spotify global debut track in history with 12.4 million streams.
Drake also kept the same all-star lineup of collaborators for this project. Future, who previously assisted on a mixtape and multiple singles, was featured on two songs off of the album. Giveon and Lil Durk, both artists featured on Drake’s singles “Chicago Freestyle” and “Laugh Now Cry Later” within the past year, respectively, had verses on “In the Bible.” Other featured Drizzy-album veterans include Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z.
Another notable track was “Fountains,” with vocals by Nigerian artist Tems, which broke up the rest of the R&B melancholy on the album.
Despite the album cover not being as visually complex as that of his 2016 album “Views,” or a creative depiction of his likeness like the cover for 2013 album “Nothing Was The Same,” fans still ought to give it a listen.
However, instead of it being a new ingredient to add to their spice cabinets, this album can be compared to a comfort food that’s there when there’s nothing else to eat.
Overall, we’d give it a 3/5.