A melancholy artist who blurs the line between rap and song, Drake brings new influences and sounds to the top charts with his album, Views. While Drake’s staple themes of woe and dejection are still present, his songs feature Jamaican dancehall beats and simple electronic rhythms that make those songs quite enjoyable to listen to for any occasion. The quality of Drake’s songs in Views as pop songs is what makes them stand out. Drake’s newest songs are catchy, but they do not have any deep sentimental meaning that leave a lasting effect with a person seeking to derive a thematic message from those songs.
It is very typical in our day and age for songs to revolve around a beat and only that. Drake’s Views disappoints me somewhat because I thought I saw more than just a beat in Drake’s songs, meaning I expected more of a total experience from Views. Because he is known for being a somewhat sensitive, creative character, one expects some gloomy, heartfelt meaning out of Drake’s lyrics. Drake does capture this sentiment in some songs, but when he does, the feeling he expresses does not feel truly sincere. In “U With Me,” Drake repeats “a lotta n***** cuttin’ checks so they can take this flow” twice to comment on his feuds with other rappers as a result of his ghostwriting allegations. Drake is known for besting Meek Mill after the latter accused him of cheating on his rhymes. Drake has used his conflicts to great effect in his songs in the past, but it is much more entertaining to learn more about Drake’s present issues. Take for example, individual songs like “Back to Back” were designated tracks that capitalized on the energy that was building up among Drake’s fans in response to Meek Mill’s threats. So great was Drake’s success with these songs that Meek Mill’s career could effectively be considered terminated. In general, people were extremely hyped for the release of these two songs, but that hype does not seem present with Views, thus this album did not have the feel of past Drake songs.
Regarding Drake’s usage of beats and acoustics, Views is a step away from headbangers found in Drake’s past “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.” There’s less spontaneous energy through heavy bass tones and much more pleasant soft rhythm. In Drake’s titular “Views,” the song combines bass and Drake’s own verses to make a song that places Drake before the music. This was something I always wanted, as a fan of Drake’s story itself, and I felt Views achieved this goal of putting Drake in the spotlight. There’s not much elaboration made on Drake’s story, but one can definitely sense the lyrics before the song.
Only with a good voice can these lyrics be fully experienced to a degree that the artist wanted. Drake’s voice is not too low like Future’s or too high like Lil Wayne’s; hearing and comprehending what Drake is trying to say is easier with a voice like his. It works well with most forms of bass in his music, and it can be used to certain effects. When he speaks, his inflection is the highest in the song compared to other points where he speaks in a regular tone of voice, letting Drake command some degree of mastery, when he wants to illustrate his Views.
