First Impressions Of Drake’s “Honestly, Nevermind” (Article)
What up one & all. Good morning if you catching this one on time.
Sky Bento here once again on the check in. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in total effect. Hope you & yours are fine and well, protecting your mental health, knowing the vibes, and drinking your water. You’re going to need it now because it’s Summertime baby, and Drake is here to capitalize. I - like everybody else I guess - had some strong reactions to this Drake album - like always I guess. So this ain’t no review, I’m not finna go super in depth into the lyrics or nothing like that but more like ima just give you the vibes I got from my first listen. So relax your mind, let your conscience be free, and check me out one time.
As always, these are my opinions and do not reflect the views of TDN as a label, staff or as a m************ crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento
So right off the bat you can tell that Drake wants us to dance with this album. Ain’t no way he’s gonna open an album with dance number and not deliver on that promise throughout the project. We all know how important track 2 is. We get this 4 on the floor house type beat and some falsettos on “Falling Back”. I’m not mad at this sound following the saxophone intro but man that intro set me up for something way better I felt. I get some More Life vibes from the transitions… but the tracks at least at the beginning had me worried that the album might get stale (epic foreshadowing). Track 2 itself started to feel like a freestyle over a monotonous dance beat. I really hoped this wasn’t what the album was gonna feel like. I was really worried honestly because I’ve been very critical of Drake albums specifically because he never commits to an idea for a full record which usually takes away from the replay value since the vibe is so incohesive.
But “Currents” made me very happy to hear. Dumb fire out the gate with the same mattress/rocking chair sample from “Some Cut” that will never get old to me. At this point I was scrolling on Twitter mindlessly instead of focusing on the music - a bad sign. But I came across this tweet that said Drake is competing with Bad Bunny, not Kendrick. I think this is very true, Drake is an international mega-popstar over a decade in the making at this point. He’s a rapper, yes, but he’s so much more than that that it’s incredible we still call him a rapper and hold him to rapper standards (unlike a certain other multi-talented rap-based superstar). This album proves Drake is beyond the confines of rap maybe more than anything he’s ever released, and that’s quite the accomplishment whether he succeeds or not. It just sucks we’ve already gotten this side of Drake in enough small doses to make its own album, likely a better one than this. Imagine the alternate timeline where instead of Drake doing 7 sounds on each album, each of his now seven albums had their own distinct sound and style as part of his wheelhouse. How much more respect would we have for Drake if he switched it up consistently like that rather than trying to balance them all at the same time, introducing new styles but never really committing. That’s how we’ve reached this current point where the complaints about Drake becoming stale are really becoming the popular concensus.
Drake focusing on this one sound really showcases his limitations vocally.
On the production side, it’s cool. There’s actually a lot of potential here with what’s being done. There’s a strong 90’s House influence that echoes out into a very nostalgic void. You can hardly say these records aren’t danceable, soulless as they may feel at times. I’m sure the soullessness is a bit of the point, as was the case with Kanye’s 808’s & Heartbreak and a lot of Drake’s earlier work. With a better vocalist, some of these records really could’ve been something special. But as it stands, Drake focusing on this one sound really showcases his limitations vocally. With no features, and hardly any background vocals or really interesting vocal flares with effects, you can see where he falls short as a singer. He even posted “I wish I could sing” on his Instagram following the project’s release. I’ve always appreciated and respected Drake’s attempts to really sing and do stuff like this, despite just not being that talented of a singer. I think it makes him more relatable and is a huge (if less talked about) part of his brand.
But son really made one song over and over and over again for this joint. Until track 7 at least, where Drake remembers he can rap. The album is definitely cohesive, because even this rap tune got that house beat behind it and a strongly rhythmic flow. I really like that moment where Drake brings it back home and shows where his worlds collide, like he’s always attempted to do on other albums. Instead this record insists on giving us the same thing over and over again, like a car reminding you to put your seatbelt on. But at least the beep is consistent with a rhythm, unlike whatever that damn unfinished Mario Kart countdown sound is on “Massive”. Thank GOD it reverbed for a quick second or I would’ve joined Joaquin Phoenix in that mental facility. Much like the beeping noise, this album feels like it kinda drags after like 8 tracks. Not much variation outside of the pure rap track. Ain’t that crazy to hear about a Drake album? Production is good, spacey and groovy, but just not super strong. Nothing really stands out.
I applaud that Drake finally cut back and did a cohesive single sound album but I think knowing all that he’s capable of in hindsight takes away from how impressive it should be since he doesn’t incorporate much varaition into the tracklist. On what couldve been a huge step outside his comfort zone, we get a whole album of what is usually one or two tracks on a typical Drake album. And even in them cases they’re probably not the best part of the album, just a welcome change of pace. Speaking of change of pace, once again I gotta thank the Lord almighty that we got real Drake at the end with some actual hip-hop flavor. It almost feels like them last two joints are bonus tracks just so that we don’t say it’s ALL house music… Honestly, never mind. Jimmy Cooks makes more sense as an outro than it should. 21 Savage’s reference to afrobeats & Drake stressing how “if you don’t like the way I talk” you should “say some” seem in reference to the inevitable critiques of this album. But if you know the critiques, why keep doing it anyway? 15 years into your career and 13 into experimenting with this style of music… NOW is when you choose to make the full leap into it and make a cohesive album out of it? Imagine if he did something like this in 2016 with Views instead when he was really perfecting his more dance-influenced sound?
I’m not mad. Just disappointed.
