Countdown to the Album of the Year, #7- “Certified Lover Boy”

Like most Drake albums, Certified Lover Boy is absurdly long and as I listened to the album, the songs seemed to meld together, all sounding very similar. The album was honestly unnecessary. It was drab and felt like a repeat of Drake’s older sounds. A specific example of this is “Fountains (with Tems),” the 16th track on the album, which sounded like a modified version of one of Drake’s older songs, “Take Care ft. Rihanna.”

Drake has securely figured out his sound and what works for him. His music tends to follow a formula and even if it’s not all the same, his songs can be very similar, but to simply put it, Certified Lover Boy is Drake ripping off Drake.

The album starts with a disembodied, high-pitched voice, introducing the first song, “Champagne Poetry,” the background voice is a sample of lyrics from the Beatles song, “Michelle.” The voice seems to have no relation to the track other than being impressive since it is a song by the Beatles. This could tie into some of the themes on the album, one of them being Drake’s wealth, luxury, and how he feels about it.

On the topic of theme, the album seems to deal with common themes found in Drake’s previous music, such as pettiness and, as mentioned earlier, luxury. More specifically, “Certified Lover Boy,” tells a narrative of Drake being stuck in his empire and fame, living this life of luxury, but that life’s not without its downfalls. Some lyrics that do an excellent job of portraying that theme are “Never had a lot, this is all I need. People never care ’til it’s R.I.P.” in “Love All.”

While Drake fans are sure to enjoy this album, those who aren’t fans will have difficulties changing their minds due to the lack of memorable songs. Despite its long and blending sounds, it had some great songs. However, overall, it was nothing too special. Some songs felt lazy and lacked a certain exuberance and passion that could have left an impression. Contrary to my previous statement, in all their run-of-the-mill Drake glory, some of CLB’s songs are catchy.

The album also tends to change emotion with each passing song, with no specific feelings staying constant throughout the whole album. It also features many collaborations like Travis Scott in “Fair Trade” and “Love All” with JAY-Z. The features even seemed to outshine Drake at times.

Whether or not you like or dislike the album, at the end of the day, this is a Drake album. He’s so famous and has so many previous hits that he knows it’ll sell no matter what. One of the reasons for this constant fame is because of the loyalty of his rabid fanbase; it doesn’t really matter what he puts out, his fans will like it just because it is Drake and his name value. On top of that, his music will always be liked because it follows the same formula. It’s safe and it works. The themes, the rhythm, it’s all the same; we’ve seen it in his music before, we see it now, and we’ll see it again with little to no alterations.