Snooze from the Six

Drake's latest work makes me want to take a sad nap

Somewhere within the 2nd hour of Drake's new album Views, there's a rather innocuous song titled "Fire and Desire." It features three forgettable verses, but in that third verse there's a rather telling line. "I told you I got Zs for these other girls sleepin' on 'em/girl I'm sleepy." Thank you, Drake, for writing the entire premise of the upcoming review by yourself! Probably, at least. That line could have been ghostwritten.

There are plenty of things to complain about on Views, but personally my biggest gripe is with the theme that never seems to go away. Drake, we get it, you have horrible relationships with women. How many ways are you going to try and express that before you try out a different lyrical theme? How many times are you going to bemoan your own emotional immaturity until you grow the fuck up? It's not something that appears to be eroding over time; if anything it's getting worse.

A younger Drake always had his moments of peak melancholy, like "Marvin's Room" or "Doing It Wrong." But if use the album Take Care as an example, you'll always hear several songs that serve as a good counterweight. There's always a "Crew Love" or "Under Ground Kings" to thrust a listener back up after he or she has been dragged down to the depths. And it's all capped off by some superjam singles like the title track and "Headlines," which you should listen to mixed with Stephen Curry highlights, because why not?

This time around, that bouncier track doesn't really exist. And, perhaps more importantly, Drake doesn't want it to be there. His big hit "Hotline Bling" makes an appearance, but read the tea leaves and take a look at the track listing. It's 20th out of 20! You what that is? That's a record executive saying to himself, "golly, it sure would be nice if this album had a hit." Drake didn't want one but probably got saddled with one at the last minute.

The issue with this new record, then, is fairly obvious. There is none of that lift up that could demonstrate Drake's versatility as an artist. We know he has it with additional context, but if Views were your one and only Drake experience you'd think he's the rap equivalent of the All-American Rejects. It's all millenial whining without any of the charismatic wit that makes him such an enjoyable artist. Imagine if R.A. Dickey stopped throwing knuckleballs. That's what Drake is doing throughout this album.

To be fair, it's not all doom and gloom. If you look beyond the lyrics, there are several very well-made beats that deserve a good deal of recognition. There's an interesting stylistic turn as well. Songs such as "One Dance" and "Too Good" have a heavy Caribbean dancehall influence, something we haven't heard in hip-hop for a very long time. That's an exciting change of pace, even if it seems off coming from an album theoretically all about Toronto.

Maybe if they had gone with Toronto Rastas they'd have
more luck against the Cavs.

"Weston Road Flows" is also a very good song, probably my favorite on the album. It's one of the few that explores Drake's much more complex relationships he has with his male friends, instead of the brutish and depressing relationships he has with his female company. Fame's negative consequences are a regular theme for Drake, and this is one of its best examples. The lyrics pour out of him like a stream of frustration and anguish. But instead of resisting it like he might earlier in his career, Drake seems almost resigned to his new reality on this lengthy verse. It's one of the few moments where we see Drake changing from the man we've been learning about for years.

But unfortunately those moments are few and far between on Views. Most of the time he's lamenting the same old recycled lyrical thoughts that he's been on for years. After a stretch of cutting-edge ideas, Drake's innovation level appears to be at all time low. That would be bad enough on a poppier, more uplifting album, but Views comes across as more of a depression spiral than anything else.

Drake sings about women, and it upsets you. Wash, rinse, repeat. I'm going to take that sad nap now.