On April 29, 2016 Drake released his fourth studio album entitled Views. There was a lot of hype about this album and even controversy surrounding his choice of cover art. I personally had the privilege of attending Drakes album launch party at his restaurant Frings in downtown Toronto. It seemed do be getting well received by fans. This is proven in its sales, over one million copies of the album were sold it its first week beating out the queen herself Beyoncé.
Overall I found the album to be a bit repetitive with 19 tracks, and many of them sounding similar. I would have preferred fewer tracks with more originality. I found the best songs such as “One Dance” and “Pop Style” were already pre-released before the whole album dropped, making the album more of a let down.
When listening to his album, it made me want to listen to his old stuff again. The beginning of the song “U with me” there is a phone call ringer that goes off similar to one of Drakes other hits “Marvin’s Room”. The song, however, doesn’t measure up to his old track. The album does have a nice balance of slow and fast songs. For example, I can see “One Dance Controlla” and “Too Good” being remixed and played as club songs because of their fast tempo.
I appreciate the lyrical content as Drake is sticking to his roots and continuing to rap about the city. His song 9 is about him turning the 6 upside down making references to Toronto as the 6 (because it has 6 boroughs and the area codes are 416 and 647). Another great reference in his song “Keep the Family Close” refers to that time Chrysler made a car that looked just like a Bentley. Overall the album sticks to the original lyrical and vocal styles that have made Drake such an icon.
