On Oct. 6, Drake released his newest album For All The Dogs, featuring multiple artists within the collection.
It seemed that alongside focusing on the music, Drake placed his attention on listener experience to his album’s message, which resulted in a major focus on lyricism and different melodies, varying from song to song. Thematically, Drake’s release emphasized failed relationships with a perspective of being the ultimate victim, which shined through in his songs Calling For You and Bahamas Promises.
This album includes two interludes and 21 songs, amounting to a total of 23 songs, marking For All The Dogs as one of Drake’s longest albums.
Upon release, Drake fans were disappointed with the multiple date changes regarding his album. Due to Drake’s unfinished tours, he made the professional decision to delay the public release of his album. This was met with both backlash from fans who were frustrated by the lateness of the release, but also encouragement from fans who appreciated him focusing on fan service.
For All The Dogs involved artists like SZA, Yeat, and Bad Bunny, and Sexxy Red. While each song featuring another artist was a good balance of showing both Drake and the guest artist’s talent, some songs like IDGAF (Featuring Yeat) and Rich Baby Daddy (Featuring SZA and Sexxy Red) were criticized due to the absence of Drake’s voice. The features were far too focused on the other artists, making the song seem theirs instead of Drake’s.
Additionally, fans and other pop culture consumers had differing opinions about the album. There were obvious die-hard fans of Drake, rating his release extremely high, however critics considered his album to be “mid”, as in average.
While listening to the album in order of each song, songs like 7969 Santa had a speaker at the end of the song that leads and introduces the next piece. It was unique and made the album feel connected to listener experience, especially for anyone listening to the album for the first time.
Although most songs were attention catching, some songs with slower and repetitive instrumentals created a more mundane listen as the piece would play on. If slow pieces are one’s preferred song, this album has plenty of pieces falling under that umbrella.
Personal Favorites:
Virginia Beach–
The introduction was unique as it sounded like a train coming towards the listener but lacked a satisfying beat drop from its progressively growing instrumental, which was disappointing. As the song progressed, the vocals and the melody became progressively louder which was enjoyable but cannot be fully explained with words. Drake’s rap throughout the song was also really satisfying, as it felt really fitting with the beat.
IDGAF (feat. Yeat) –
The amount of artists featured in this album is really exciting, especially since Drake included popular and growing artists like Yeat. While listening to this song, it definitely sounded like a piece Yeat would release rather than Drake. The sudden beat drop and Yeat’s distinct vocals made this song really good, however, it makes the listener completely forget that it’s Drake’s song, as it sounded more like a Drake feature than a Yeat feature. Either way, the upbeat feeling and fast song catches the attention of listeners, making this piece very fun to listen to.
Rich Baby Daddy (feat. Sexy Red and SZA) –
The starting lyricism was unique and unexpected. It was amusing and different, but definitely made the song the most memorable out of the album. The instrumental and beats were really good and when SZA’s verse was introduced, it was even better. The ending did get boring, but overall, this piece was good.
As a music fanatic, listening to For All The Dogs was a fun review of pieces that were enjoyable and different from personal taste. Overall, the releases had good instrumentals that carried each song that played within the album. Anything with good instrumentals and vocals that pop are the personal criteria used throughout the review, however, this album just didn’t hit all the personal boxes. In all honesty, some songs weren’t worth listening to such as BBL Love and All The Parties, and probably would’ve been skipped on a casual listen. Drake is a talented artist, but this album didn’t match up to his older and more iconic pieces like Hotline Bling and One Dance, as it lacked interesting and impressionable melodies.
