What Drake needed is an opportunity for renewal, an opportunity to get rid of old assumptions. It’s the kind of renewal you really only find after business hours. “Honestly, Nevermind”, Drake’s seventh solo studio album, released on Friday just hours after its release, is a small miracle of physical exuberance – attractive without weight, fugitive and zealously free. An exciting club music album, it is a strong evolution towards a new era for one of the most important music stars. It is also a Drake album consisting almost entirely of parts of Drake’s albums that feature hip-hop pornists in tradition. The expectations that Drake wants to subvert here, however, are his own. For almost the entire decade of 2010, hip-hop – and most of the rest of popular music – revolved around its innovations. Combining song and rap together, making music that was subconsciously pop without succumbing to the old way of making pop, Drake has long understood that he could build a new kind of global consensus both because he understood the limitations of older approaches and because The world is changing. However, the inflated “Certified Lover Boy”, released last year, was his least focused album, but also the least imaginative – he sounded excited, tired of his own ideas. In addition, the people who have come after him may have exhausted them as well. These conditions force innovation, however, and “Honestly, Nevermind” is a clear axis, an increasingly rare thing for a pop icon. Drake fully embraces the track here, making house music that also touches the Jersey club, the Baltimore club, the ballroom and the Amapiano. Each of these styles has passed from the local phenomenon to the taste buds in recent years, and like the experienced street cleaner he is, Drake has put together pieces for his own constructions. Part of why this is so impressive is that Drake made a career out of cuddling. His productions – always led by his longtime collaborator, Noah Sebib, known as 40 – were intensely soothing. But the blows here have sharp corners, kicks and punches. “Currents” has both the squeaky-bed sample that is a key element of the Jersey club, and a familiar vocal ad-lib that is a key element of the Baltimore club. “Texts Go Green” is guided by the turbulent percussion and the piano-filled entertainment building towards the end of “A Keeper” is an invitation to release. This approach proves to fit well with Drake’s song style, which is impossible and does not exert obvious pressure. It’s conspiratorial, romantic, sometimes erotic – it never sings to you as much as it sings to you, in your ear. Most songs are about romantic intrigue and often Drake is the victim. In places, this is a return to Drake of the Instagram subtitle era. “I know my funeral will light up because of how I treated people,” he told the rude Massive. On the “Liability” tire, he grumbles, “You are too busy dancing in the club with our songs.” But part of the compromise on this album lies in the lyrical representation – in most of the songs Drake refers to things more than he describes them. The words are prompts, sentences, slight abstractions that aim to imitate the mood of the production. (Also, social media is moving very fast now and does not reward the same kinds of patient emotional acuity in which it excels.) There is a recent precedent for Drake’s choices here: Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” and the more versatile parts of “Yeezus”. Frank Ocean’s flirtations with dance music. But such music has always been part of Drake’s grammar: consider “Take Care” with Rihanna from 2011, with Gil Scott-Heron / Jamie xx analysis. Or the serene anthem of the sunrise “Passionfruit” from 2017 (which also had a Moodymann sample). “Funtains” by “Certified Lover Boy”, a hilarious duet with Nigerian star Tems, was also in that spirit, but seemed to foretell that Drake’s next hard drive would be towards Afrobeats, which he is working on. for a long time. including partnerships with Wizkid. But Drake chose the music club – the average bpm here is over 100 – building a clear music bridge with black and queer music subcultures. That said, the sweaty, anti-cultural house music from which it is influenced has also in recent years become a model for the music of the privileged – it is the soundtrack of the global financial elite, the same in Dubai and Ibiza with Miami and Mykonos. It is music that is attractive but also harmless. it is full of meaning and reference, but also gentle to the touch. Drake is in an enviable position, only a few pop superstars have been found in the past – he is one of the most famous musicians on the planet and his reputation is based on being something like a chameleon. But it is difficult for a jagger to be agile. However, “Honestly, Nevermind” is the work of someone who is not bothered by the ability to alienate old allies. The last two years have been unbound and the pandemic has freed artists to do the unexpected simply by removing the old reward structures. (Structurally, “Honestly, Nevermind” is a similar twist to Weeknd “Dawn FM”‘s electro-pop experiment, released in January.) The coronavirus era has also fostered the rise of hip-hop scenes that thrive in the virtual chaos of social media. This was most evident in the rise of the drill, which recently boosted hip hop to grain and nerves. Although Drake has played with the drill in the past, collaborating with Fivio Foreign and Lil Durk, among others, “Honestly, Nevermind” is an anti-drill record. Drake is 35 now and no doubt thinking about how to live next to his children’s children. He only raps two songs here: “Sticky”, which reaches the limits of hip-house (“Two sprinters to Quebec / Chérie, où est mon bec?”) And “Jimmy Cooks”, the last song in which 21 Savage participate, try Playa Fly and feel like a sharp glow coda after 45 minutes of absolute ecstatic release. This is the kind of hip-hop confidential eye that Drake’s albums have been displaying for a long time, but as he and his fans grow older, it may not be the material of his future. Whether “Honestly, Nevermind” turns out to be a fake or a permanent new direction is perhaps a sign that it leaves the old Drake – and everyone who followed him – behind. As a great general, he throws the ball where his receivers are already going, not where it was. Drake “Honestly, Nevermind” (OVO / Republic)
