Album Review: Views by Drake

Drake follows up his third studio album, Nothing Was The Same, with Views, on which everything is basically the same.

Sometimes great. Often good. Always sad. Forever Canadian. In the six years following his studio debut, Drake has established himself as one of the more consistent icons of the modern hip-hop era. Unlike Kanye West, who tackles new genres after blowing up each previous persona, and Rihanna, who is in constant pursuit of the perfect, of-the-moment pop single, Drake just wants to keep on Drake-ing. The one major evolution in his career has been his ability to shed the regrettable hashtag rapping that defined his early work, wholesale. Example? It’s been a major weight off him: #ChristianBale. His new record Views is not an album of growth, reflected by its cyclical concept (it follows the changing of the seasons in Drake’s beloved Toronto, or, as he bafflingly calls it, the 6). It’s about hometown loyalty, romantic suspicions and neuroses, and, of course, starting at the bottom and winding up here. On bombastic opener “Keep The Family Close”, he sings, “You’re so predictable; I hate people like you.” For someone in a constant state of introspection, Drake’s not the most self-aware dude in the game. Sure, but as Tom Haverford would ask, “Is it a banger?”

Well, that first track isn’t necessarily one - it is a melodious stage-setter, beautifully produced by newcomer Maneesh Biyade – yet Drake’s Views still has its fair share of irrepressible singles. As well it should, at a hefty 81 minutes. There’s the pulsating mission statement “9” (“I turn the six upside down; it’s a nine now”); the sweet, sunny “With You” (featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR); and the West African-infused “One Dance” (born for dad-dancing, a’la the undeniable “Hotline Bling”, featured on Views as an obligatory bonus track). Elsewhere, he strolls a little too closely to J. Cole territory, overstuffing the record with samey, solemn laments. They’re interrupted by would-be club tracks – “Pop Style”, “Grammys” - that reach for the elusive euphoria of “HYFR” and “Worst Behaviour” and wind up sounding like Meek Mill offcuts. (Too soon?) For better or worse, Drake’s persona - and distinctive line-readings - separate him from his nemeses (Meek, Cole and The Weeknd). On the Kanye-produced “U With Me”, he threatens a late key change with an escalating, harmonic scale, and for a moment you’re jolted back into caring about some girl who wants to “walk around naked” in Drake’s kitchen (she can’t, because his friends are always around). Rihanna collaboration “Too Good” won’t crawl into your ear like “Work”, but it does switch “friends with benefits” around into an almost sweet-sounding refrain: “I wanna benefit from the friendship.” (It’s one of his better turns of phrase, especially on an album where he says, “I get green like Earth Day.”) Nostalgic “Weston Road Flows” covers absolutely zero new ground. Instead, it coasts on Drake’s smoothest verses and occasional transitions to sing-song reverie, not to mention producer (and Drake BFF) Noah “40” Shebib’s sublime, soulful beat (assisted by a Mary J. Blige sample).

Views marks Drake’s longest break between studio albums, kinda. Nothing Was The Same came out three years ago, though in that time he’s released two “unofficial” tapes – one a collaboration with Future – and a heap of singles, including Meek Mill take-downs “Charged Up” and “Back to Back”, as well as the inescapable “Hotline Bling” and the hits-that-never-were, “Right Hand” and “Summer Sixteen”. Views’ direct predecessor, If You’re Reading This You’re Too Late, is classified as a mixtape, although it sounded like – and was priced like - an album. On a pre-release interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio, Drake argued that Views, in contrast, earns the ‘studio album’ distinction on account of the lush production and the sonic transitions between songs (and, supposedly, seasons). The production is indeed lush. However, Views, which is being sold like Drake’s defining masterpiece, can’t withstand the weight of its own grandiosity. Next time, Aubrey Graham may actually need to step away from the limelight to let us actually miss him, and to allow him to change and evolve, as all musical innovators must. That said, most die-hards won’t mind that Views breaks little new ground. The older they get, the more Drake stays the same. 3.5/5 Views is now available.