New album released but still ‘old Drake’
After a lot of waiting, Drake’s album For All the Dogs has officially been released to fans. True to previous expectations, the album contributed to restoring hip-hop’s position with an overwhelming No.1 position on the Billboard 200.
King of digital music
As expected of the “king of digital music”, Drake’s new album had a first week largely driven by streaming activity. Up to 391,000 units, accounting for 97% of the total, in the debut week of For All the Dogs were from streams, equivalent to 514.01 million on-demand streams of songs on the album.
With this achievement, this is the biggest streaming week of the year for any album. Notably, of the 5 biggest streaming weeks ever, 4 belonged to Drake. Besides For All the Dogs are the first weeks of Scorpion (belongs to Drake with 745.92 million streams in 2018), Certified Lover Boy (Drake, with 743.67 million in 2022), Midnight (Taylor Swift, with 549 .26 million in 2022) and Her Loss (Drake and 21 Savage, with 513.56 million in 2022).
The album cover of “For All the Dogs” was drawn by Drake’s son
After many reschedules, For All the Dogs was officially released at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, October 6, slightly different from the usual schedule of 0:00 a.m. on Friday. This is Drake’s 4th album in less than 2 years and the 3rd since June 2022. He released the collaborative album Her Loss with 21 Savage in November 2022, solo album Honesly, Nevermind in June 2022 and Certified Lover Boy in September 2021.
With 13 No.1 albums on the Billboard 200, Drake surpassed Taylor Swift, becoming the artist with the third most No.1s. The record currently belongs to The Beatles with 19 No.1s. Followed by Jay-Z with 14 No.1. Ranked 4th is Taylor Swift with 12 No.1s.
Despite being criticized, Drake is still as steady as a three-legged stool on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100.
Despite such remarkable achievements, For All the Dogs only received average reviews from critics with a Metacritic score, based on 10 reputable sources, of 52/100. The “raise it high and hit it low” side believes that no matter what, Drake is still really a good rapper and no one can stop him from complaining all day!
He still knows how to multiply things with a huge guest lineup and mix in many other styles like drill and underworld R&B. Rolling Stone thinks there’s evidence somewhere between the hour and a half that this is a good, but essentially wordy, album.
The harsher side criticized the disparaging attitude towards women in For All the Dogs. In addition, the childish insecurity and pettiness of adolescence that was once loved now looks tired and immature. Instead of relaxing and settling down now that he’s turned 40, Drake looks more troubled than ever.
Drake and his son
Everyone misses the old Drake
As Drake’s 8th studio album, For All the Dogs was released through OVO Sound and Republic Records. The album includes 23 songs with a large number of famous guests including Teezo Touchdown, 21 Savage, J. Cole, Yeat, SZA, PartyNextDoor, Chief Keef, Bad Bunny, Sexyy Red and Lil Yachty. The production lineup is equally huge with Drake, Teezo Touchdown, Lil Yachty, 40, Sango, Oz, Bnyx, Southside, Boi-1da, Vinylz, Tay Keith, FnZ, Jahaan Sweet, DJ Screw (sampled), Stwo , Gordo, Justin Raisen and many others.
The album was supported by three lead singles: Slime You Out, 8AM in Charlotte and Rich Baby Daddy. Currently, all 23 songs are in the top half of the Billboard Hot 100. In particular, all of the top 3 are from the new album, namely First Person Shooter (ft. J. Cole), IDGAF and Virginia Beach.
Drake first revealed For All the Dogs earlier this year, during a free concert at the Apollo Theater. He revealed that he wants to “get more emotional, maybe this year”. In response to negative reactions to his previous album, he replied, “I have thought about many things in life but right now, nothing can stop me from continuing to make music for my fans.”
In the middle of this year, he announced a book of poetry written with musician Kenza Samir, titled Titles Ruin Everything. The next day, the entire front page of the New York Post ads were QR codes. When scanned, the QR code changes to a page with a picture of two puppies with the content: “I made an album to go with the book… They say they miss the old Drake, girls don’t tempt me. For all the pups.” dog”.
In fact, For All the Dogs was rated even lower by critics than the previous album Her Loss and fans were quite indifferent online. Yet it still won about the same number of units in its first week, with no signs of a trade slowdown. It must be said that, despite praise and criticism, nothing can stop Drake’s success. Clearly, contrary to pessimistic predictions about market fragmentation, the demand for Drake is still huge and no matter what, he will still top the Billboard 200, maintaining the belief that he is both an artist and an artist. artist, and a public star.