Certified Lover Boy, the sixth studio album by Canadian hip-hop artist Drake, was released on September 2, 2021 by OVO Sound and Republic Records. The album contains features from many notable artists, including Travis Scott, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne.
The album was met with mixed reviews from critics who felt the production was comparable to Drake’s past releases while others thought that the production lacked variety. Nevertheless, Certified Lover Boy was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, making this Drake’s tenth US number-one album. This broke the 2021 record for largest opening week in the US and broke Apple Music’s and Spotify’s records for the largest opening-day streams. Furthermore, Certified Lover Boy achieved the all-time record for the most US top-ten singles from one album, with its lead single “Way 2 Sexy” arriving atop the Billboard Hot 100 and marking Drake’s ninth US number-one single.
Jack Hamilton, a critic from Slate magazine, thinks that, “Certified Lover Boy has its ups and downs (at an hour and 27 minutes long, how could it not?), but its highest points rank with some of the best music Drake has ever made. Its low points aren’t outright bad so much as they’re just boring.”
The album opens with a high pitched sample of the McCartney-Lennon-written “Michelle.” It’s an exceedingly loud loop, a disembodied voice competing with Drake’s “Champagne Poetry” lyrics, and it makes no sense. At various points on Certified Lover Boy, it feels like Drake is trapped in the empire he’s built and the narrator-character he’s created. Luxury and pettiness, common themes in Drake’s work, are present throughout the album, and it frequently sounds like he’s tired of both.
On “In the Bible,” he’s with a group of women who are taking shots at the Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas and murmurs, “you don’t know love, you don’t love me like my child.” Later, on “Pipe Down,” he sings, “How much I gotta spend for you to pipe down?” He’s not yearning for a simpler life or even his own past but just something to enjoy, something to appreciate.
Certified Lover Boy, also lacks musical variety, primarily consisting of Drake’s voice and a signature instrument. While the album is his most musically cohesive since Nothing Was the Same, it’s also repetitive. There are pleasant, classic Drake moments, like “Girls Want Girls,” “7am on Bridle Path,” and “Fair Trade,” but mostly, the production hums along meagerly at best. Drake’s vocal performances, too, are also mediocre. The mid-album cut “No Friends in the Industry” stands out amongst the rest of the music. It’s a rare song where he sounds animated and interested in what he’s saying, experimenting with a few different flows.
Drake was a hit with critics early on, but many have turned against him, even as his popularity continues to grow. That’s understandable because he takes so few chances and because his once-novel persona easily grows tiresome. His releases now are essentially more of the same, and for casual listeners, there is a strong sense of “OK, we get it.” That said, there is a seriously great album to be found in Certified Lover Boy, provided you know where to listen.
