When Drake sardonically
warned his distracters “you don’t know what you just started” on ‘Pop Style’,
the third single from his fourth studio effort, Views, one must speculate if he truly had any idea of the colossal commercial success that was fast approaching him.
Released back in April, the record has continued to break records even several months after its premier. In the United States alone, it has attained over 1
billion streams, is already certified double-platinum, and has spent 6 consecutive
weeks at number one (11 weeks in total) the Billboard 200. The album’s lead
single, ‘Hotline Bling’, a minimalist R&B track, achieved infamy following
the release of its viral music video. The second single, ‘One Dance’,
mesmerised audiences with its dancehall and afrobeat influences, became Drake’s
first number 1 single in the United States, and spent fifteen consecutive weeks
at number 1 in the UK, the second longest number-one run in UK chart history. It
is safe to affirm that 2016 will forever be known as the year Drake dominated
the music industry, but how does Views itself fair as a member of the rapper’s critically-acclaimed
discography?
With a mammoth 20
tracks, and a run-time of over 81 minutes, Views is certainly one of Drake’s
most ambitious records to date, with a clear determination to express the pride
he has in his Canadian heritage like never before. It glides through the
signature emotional stratospheres (distrust, heartbreak, fame and
introspection) that we’ve come to expect from the rapper, with a newly refined
sly sense of humour that (mostly) prevents the record from vanishing into
complete melodrama. The recycling of such archetypes, however, soon reveals
itself to be the record’s principal weakness, as one cannot escape the feeling
that much of the content on the record has been done to death before, and in a
much better fashion. Drake’s records have always been inundated with unevenness,
often the result of an antithesis between made-for-radio bangers and melancholic
despair, but never has it been as apparent as it is here, where too often the
record’s stubbornly low energy eclipses the artistic merit of individual
tracks.
This by no means,
however, should imply Views is without its merits. The orchestral opening track, ‘Keep
the Family Close’, which delves into the trust issues he developed following
several song leaks in the lead up to ablum's release, is a perfectly dramatic,
ominous track that expertly opens the record. ‘Controlla’ and ‘Too Good’, the
latter of which features on-again-off-again lover Rihanna, are both delicious Caribbean-tinged
dancehall affairs that emphasise Drake’s versatility as an artist. ‘With You’ effortlessly
blends the rapper’s smooth croon
with the unusual vocals of featured artist, PartyNextDoor, over a hypnotic,
tropical production. ‘Still Here’, one of the
few rap-heavy tracks on the album, finds Drake at his most defiant, and
accentuates the admirable quality of most of the album’s production.
What Drake lacks on
Views, consequently, is an ability to reflect consistent evolution as an
artist in his work. Moments of innovative production and pin-sharp lyrical brilliance are
regularly overshadowed by bloated-spouts of predictability and repetitiveness,
which is massively frustrating considering this would be much less apparent if
not for record’s obnoxious running time. Views, therefore, is the perfect
example of less is often more. Nevertheless, Views is an exercise in lavish
production and contains enough intriguing musical excursions to justify Drake’s
icon status. We can only hope that the success of the album will finally give the
rapper the confidence to push the conventions of his sound.
6/10
