Today marks three years since Drake released his highly anticipated fourth studio album, 'VIEWS'. A much-disputed project, 'VIEWS' prompted a love-hate relationship amongst the Canadian rapper's fans. Here, I'll be listening to 'VIEWS' in it's entirety and giving my opinion and rating on the album, track-by-track, similar to my 'NEW MUSIC FRIDAY' series, with an aim to conclude just how good 'VIEWS' was, and how it has aged over the last three years. I'm not a huge fan of Drake but I must admit there's a few songs on this album in particular that I really do enjoy, so I'm going to remain unbiased for the sake of this review. So, without further ado, let's get into 'VIEWS'.
Keep The Family Close - A strange and unneeded introduction to what should, on paper, be a very good album. Drake just seems to talk a lot of nonsense here. Not really a song more than five minutes of Drake lullabying a story of heartbreak and reminiscence (maybe?) Just a bit boring and cheesy all-round and to introduce an album with a five minute song, especially one like this, is not only very brave, but in this case, very foolish. It's a good job Drake's vocals themselves are good as they're really the only thing redeeming this. 4.5/10
9 - A good, simple instrumental that compliments the triplets and flow that Drake utilises in this track. Lyrically it's fairly good, and it's probably a track that I'd show someone if they were to ask me what Drake's style is. Usually not my kind of rap, but I actually quite enjoyed it to be honest; a solid second song for 'VIEWS'. 8/10
U With Me? - The beat is another good one, but I don't think the flow that Drake goes for here is as good. It's an alright song, but a bit too 'talky' for me. That kind of style can work, but I think it works better without an instrumental - or an instrumental that isn't as full as this one is. Drake does switch about halfway through the song to a more sing-song voice which in contrast, does work. He does the same again about two thirds in, into a louder, more desperate style, which was a nice change in pace. Lyrically, much the same as a lot of Drake's love ballads - reminiscing on girls and days gone by doesn't always work. 6.5/10.
Feel No Ways - Starts off with a great transition from the previous song. The instrumental is dream-like but the drum machines and hi-hats are a bit overpowering. Similar to 'U With Me?', it suffers lyrically, due to being another love song. I did enjoy the track, but I think it would thrive more with a slightly more relaxed instrumental - just a bit too much going on for Drake to truly come into his own, resulting in him being overshadowed by the production. 7/10.
Hype - Something a bit different here. Much unlike the previous tracks in this album, Drake is more aggressive here, but not sure the song lives up to its name. The instrumental is a bit too relaxed for the style that it seems Drake is trying to go for here. Sounds kind of similar to 'KMT' from Drake's 2017 mixtape 'More Life', and perhaps it would have sounded a bit better if it had used the same kind of instrumental. It's alright, but nothing special in my opinion. 7/10.
Weston Road Flows - Another reminiscent track from Drake, although this one seems to be aimed more at the life he used to have in Toronto rather than failed relationships from his past, so it's a bit less repetitive. Lyrically it's quite weak, and the metaphors he uses are a bit cheesy and don't work for the kind of song this is, but its instrumental is enjoyable, and I think it sounds quite old school, and as such, redeems this track a bit. 6.5/10.
Redemption - This is similar to the intro track. It's far too long to gain any replay value really, and it just consists of Drake reminiscing on more heartbreak, which has gotten a bit tedious by now. A nice simple instrumental once again, but that unfortunately doesn't save this track for me. Overall it's better than 'Keep The Family Close' but just suffers the same problems - too long and filled with unnecessary nonsense - which isn't a great recipe for an album from an artist as big as Drake. 5/10
With You (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR) - A decent track, with a good backing track. PARTYNEXTDOOR does a fairly good job through the verses and hook on this track, as does Drake, but that's about it really. As a result, it's nothing special, and isn't a very memorable track. As such, it's a 7/10.
Faithful (feat. Pimp C & dvsn) - This track features a great sample/feature from the late Pimp C. Gives off the same kind of vibes as Drake's 2011 album 'Take Care'. A fairly good instrumental, with a bit of bass, which I like in a track. Unfortunately I don't think dvsn does a good job here, and brings the track down overall. Just another average song unfortunately. 6.5/10.
Still Here - A good redemption from the previous two tracks. Strong production results in an ideal instrumental for the kind of flow and style Drake goes for here. The chorus is very catchy and thankfully, Drake doesn't do any of his 'reminiscing about love' act here, and just sticks to simple rapping without too much singing, and it results in probably one of the best songs on the album. 8/10.
Controlla - One of the biggest mainstream songs that emerged from this project. I personally have fairly mixed feelings about it. It's very catchy and the beat is good, however, it lacks a lot of energy, and just focuses on Drake's usual 'plan B' of just singing about a girl he used to see. However, these two points also go hand-in-hand as the reasons to why the song went so mainstream, and has, however unfortunately, been relegated to a 'nightclub song'. 7.5/10
One Dance (feat. WizKid, Kyla) - Okay, this song is fantastic. It was great back in 2016, and it's still great now. One that's widely loved by mostly everyone, it's probably my favourite song from Drake, so there's not a lot I can fault it for. A catchy instrumental and an excellent style of rapping make 'One Dance' the massive hit that it was. Granted, it is very mainstream much like 'Controlla', but for all the right reasons this time. My only complaint about it would be the fact that it is the second shortest song on the album for some reason, but unfortunately for a song to do well on the charts, you've got to keep it fairly brief. Still, 10/10.
Grammys (feat. Future) - We get to see a more aggressive side of Drake here which is refreshing. It was his first collaboration with Future since their 2015 joint mixtape 'What a Time to Be Alive', but unfortunately Future's verse doesn't do it for me in this case. I actually quite enjoyed the different style from Drake, but Future is repetitive and a bit boring, and so drags the track down in my opinion, otherwise it could have been something special. 6/10.
Childs Play - Starts off promising, and feels like the instrumental is building to something big, which unfortunately, never comes in this song. As a result, it loses a lot of potential and just seems to come across as another love song. Lyrically forgettable, the instrumental is the best bit of this song, and I enjoyed it in that sense, but the rest of the song gets a 'meh' from me. 6.5/10.
Pop Style - A strange instrumental to the rest of the album, it actually really reminds me of a Lil Pump type of beat for some reason, if a bit calmer. In all honesty though, this is the most forgettable song on the album. Nothing stood out for me. Lyrically poor, it just seems to feature a lot of boasting from Drake, which is unfortunate because it comes across as kind of immature, and makes him sound even more like Lil Pump. 5/10.
Too Good (feat. Rihanna) - I totally forgot this song existed until this review. I'm not sure why, because it's a pretty great song. Not usually my type of tune but this is an exception. It is another love song unfortunately, but this is one that I wouldn't skip over. Immensely catchy, with a great beat and good, bouncy flow to go with the energy that is given off throughout the track. Rihanna's verse is equally good and she works really well with Drake's style here. Seems like there's very few tracks this pair release together that aren't catchy. Only criticism is that after a few plays, this could get old. 9.5/10
Summers Over Interlude - Not much to say about this track really, considering it's a 1 minute 27 second long interlude. Does Drake himself even appear in this one? It's more of an instrument-dominated piece than anything. However, it's got a very relaxed feel to it, and the beat is relaxed and jazz-like. Not bad at all, as interludes go. 7.5/10.
Fire & Desire - This song is a weird one. The instrumental is both good and bad at the same time. The hi-hats and drums are perfect but I'm not sure what they were thinking with the high-pitched gibberish that crops up every now and again, which makes it sound like one of those chipmunk remixes on YouTube. It's yet another love song, and I'm starting to notice the trend by now. It's a slow and relaxed song, and Drake's vocals are very soothing and chilled out. Maybe too chilled out. End result is just another average love ballad. 7/10.
Views - The title track. It's a deceiving one as it starts off quiet and relaxed but Drake switches that up very quickly. Brash and loud, with Drake seemingly out to prove a point, the lyrical content, alongside the instrumental, make for another classic Drake song. Much like '9', it's probably one of those songs that I'd show someone who wasn't familiar with Drake's basic style. Could do with some improvement, and suffers from the 'boasting' illness that Drake likes to spread on a lot of his tracks, but it's still a fairly solid song. 8/10.
Hotline Bling - Arguably the second biggest song from 'VIEWS', it started off as a joke and blew up the internet in its meme format, but unlike a lot of other songs that suffer from this 'meme-treatment', it actually managed to pull through a remains a really enjoyable track. The instrumental is one of the best, and most unique on this album. It's mainstream, a favourite of nightclubs around the world, and the lyrics are mostly love-based again, it's still hard to fault. In terms of my preference, it's second only to 'One Dance' on this project. 10/10.
In conclusion, 'VIEWS' is pretty good. It's far from the best project I've ever heard, and to be honest, it's not even the best project Drake has released. One of my biggest criticisms is just the repetitiveness. The amount of love songs that Drake put on this album is ridiculous, and it comes across as though he relies heavily on them, which is unfortunate because even though I'm not a fan of his, I know that he can do a lot better than some of the music on this album. There are some good love ballads in there, such as 'Controlla' and 'Too Good', but that doesn't excuse the other seven or so songs that revolve around the same sort of idea and story-telling flow. In particular, for a lot of these said songs to be pushing the four minute mark is strange, as they end up overpowering the better songs on this project, and leave the listener wondering if Drake's just pushing these love songs as poor filler material while he focuses on the chart-topping replay values of hits like 'One Dance' and 'Hotline Bling'.
Overall then, I'm going to give 'VIEWS' a 7.5/10. Whilst it features some admittedly excellent songs, its potential as an album overall is dragged down by not only the tedium and repetitiveness of these 'same-old-same-old' love songs, but also some questionable features. The biggest hits of the album have stood the test of time and are still immense songs, which are good to come back to on a nostalgia trip, but unfortunately, this throwback value only seems to work on a few of these tracks, leaving the rest of this album as forgettable tunes, stuck in the vast archives of Drake's discography.
Of course, 'VIEWS' by Drake is available on all major platforms, including Apple Music, and Spotify.
Comments