Before announcing an indefinite break from music, Drake teased this album as the return of the ‘old Drake’. Whether that’s the case really depends on your definition of who the the ‘old Drake’ is, and it’s not really clear whether Drake himself knows that. What this isn’t, is a return to form. This suffers from the same issues of most of his projects in the decade since Nothing Was The Same; too long, too many forced collabs, too many experiments in genre tourism, and far too much of the worst aspects of Drake’s character.
Rap beef/gangsta posturing Drake is almost always terrible, and there’s a bit of that here. But it’s misogynistic Drake that is the most off-putting. I’m not expecting clean-cut inoffensiveness but his mix of casual yet hyper-specific sexism makes for cringe-inducing listening, whilst also giving big-time little bitch energy. Flawed characters can make for great art, if there’s some positive contrasts or a recognition of the flaws; but everything wrong in Drake’s life is someone else’s fault. For a dude who is known for being extremely in his feelings, he seems incapable of any genuine self-reflection. And for all his self-glorification, he mostly sounds miserable. He makes himself and anyone that comes into his orbit sound like some of the most insufferable cunts imaginable.
Now, musically the album isn’t bad, the beats are almost all fine-good, with the soul-tinged stuff being particularly strong (if somewhat let down by the lyrical content). There’s probably a perfectly decent half hour album in here somewhere, but it’s just a slog to get through in its entirety. There’s no real standouts to break things up and Drake has a tendency to drone on long after a track has run out of momentum. The album is almost 90 minutes and feels even longer.
I wrote in a recent Travis Scott review that he was a big star with very little to say. Drake seemingly thinks he has a lot to say, but really doesn’t. As much as anything he comes off like a bitter dude at the bar telling you that you’re better off single. It wouldn’t be so bad, but he’s nearly 40 now and the whole thing just has a stench of sadness. With increasing success, he seems to have increasingly got lost in being a caricature of himself. That break seems well needed.
Rating:
Best Tunes: First Person Shooter, 8am in Charlotte, Another Late Night, Away From Home
Note – this review was originally published in October 2023 as part of a new music roundup post. It has been re-published separately here for archiving purposes.
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