Drake has been a mainstream artist in the rap and hip hop world for a decade or so now. He has produced countless albums that have grasped the listener’s attention and for good reason. His most recent album, ‘For All the Dogs’, however, is nothing short of hot garbage. Listeners across the globe were disappointed when they heard this underwhelming album.
When it comes to albums, Drake has been held to high expectations for years now to produce great music. His past albums such as ‘Views’ and ‘Nothing Was the Same’ received praise for the mixture of calm feelings in many songs and then energetic feelings in others that showcased passion, inspiration, and confidence. Unfortunately, in ‘For All the Dogs’ Drake sounds unpassionate, gentle, and simply just bored.
‘Calling For You’, ‘First Person Shooter’, and ‘Members Only’ all have features with artists who bring different dimensions and unique verses to collaborate with Drake, Drake however was not able to capitalize on some of the great lines that these artists including 21 Savage, J.Cole, and PARTYNEXTDOOR contributed to the album. For example, J.Cole has phenomenal lyrical poetry where he says, “The Spider-Man meme is me lookin’ at Drake, It’s like we recruited your homies to be demon deacons, we got ‘em attending your wake.” Drake then came back on the track after J.Cole finished his feature, and while he could’ve gone in many different directions with this bar such as talking about superheroes, college, or athletics due to the great mixture of concepts, he decided against it. Instead, he finished the song by repeating himself rambling about “I’m ‘bout to click” and spewing names like “Christine, Justine, Kathleen” and more.
In songs such as ‘Fear of Heights’ or ‘Amen’, Drake is tongue-tied, unorthodox, and deprived of true emotion in his voice. Drake sounds unnatural in ‘Bahamas Promises’ when he says, “I’m slidin’ down Black Creek, my friends say they wanna meet, but I don’t have the energy.” He also seems to maybe be too confident in his genuine abilities. In this song in particular, he is trying to sound more like a singer instead of a rapper/hip hop artist that he is. Tracks like these are just a small portion as to what compiled to be a poor Drake album.
Some listeners get easily distracted and bored when listening to music and on ‘For All the Dogs’, it does not help that there are 12 songs over the four minute mark and two songs over the five minute tick. While listening to this album I lost interest after hearing very repetitive verses and similar beats in many songs where there was not an original feel or thought process when produced.
Even with all these unsatisfying parts to his new album, there is something that puts the cherry on top. In the song ‘Daylight’, Drake brings his son, Adonis Graham, on the track which in all honesty ruins the conclusion of this song that was already sub par to begin with. Adonis Graham says, “Don’t talk to my man like that, I like it when you like it, my,my,my,my man,” These lyrics don’t make any sense and don’t correlate to the topic of this song. It is just flat out unnecessary to bring a five year old into the studio to sing on top of music that sounds like it comes from a boring TV show in the 1980s.
Despite all of the negative components in this album, Drake did have a few songs that were up to his fan’s high standards. ‘8AM in Charlotte’ was an instant classic and I liked how it ties into his many songs that have a time and location as the title like ‘6PM in New York’, ‘7AM on Bridle Path’, ‘5AM in Toronto.’ This brings a special flavor and mystique to his song titles. These are unique because they are named after the literal time and place he recorded them, and each track marks a distinct moment in his career.
Additionally, the song ‘Gently’ was very energizing because it brings a multicultural vibe when Bad Bunny comes on and sings his part. Bad Bunny has been extremely successful in his young career by bringing vibes that change the dynamics of an album or a song in particular. ‘Gently’ does the same and this is one of the best tracks on the album due to its sprightly feel.
All in all, Drake underperformed in this album because he lacked energy, included strange verses, and most importantly, he was not able to rap at the same level that some of his features were able to, which cost him the opportunity to create a banger. Many of Drake’s songs felt dragged out and lacked originality besides his son singing for a brief moment which was odd. He tried a different approach to his music trying to sound like a majestic singer, but this clearly did not work. Drake is an extremely talented and gifted artist, but this album fell flat on its face. Hopefully, he will be able to come back and release a top tier album soon.