‘CLB’, Certified Lover Boy, is Drake’s newest album that was released on September 3, 2021. It is his 6th studio album. The album was rumored to have been released in 2020 but ultimately was pushed back. The cover art is very interesting as it appears to be a picture of pregnant women of all colors as emojis. Drake describes the album as, “a combination of toxic masculinity and an acceptance of truth which is inevitably heartbreaking.” Drake gave us the best of both worlds with his rapping side and his more sensitive R&B side. The album consists of 21 songs that include features from artists such as Lil Baby, Travis Scott, Future, Lil Durk and many more.
The album begins with the 2-part track named “Champagne Poetry” which is also a part of the Apple Music starred tracks along with “Girls Want Girls”, “In The Bible”, “Fair Trade”, “Way 2 Sexy” and “Knife Talk”. These starred songs are the most popular songs on the album based on downloads and the amount of streams. “Champagne Poetry” starts with an intro that comes from a sample of the song titled “Michelle” by The Beatles which was released in 1965 and a song titled “Navajo” by Masego which was released in 2017. On this track, Drake raps about how he has done a lot for others and not as much for himself by stating, “lived so much for others, don’t remember how I feel.” While I agree that “Champagne Poetry”, “In The Bible” and “Fair Trade” are on the better side of the album, I would say that the tracks “Love All”, “Papi’s Home”, “Pipe Down”, “7am On Bridle Path” and “Race My Mind” are the best overall.
‘CLB’ was a great album but ultimately does not top Drake’s album titled ‘Take Care’. ‘CLB’ shows the listening audience the sensitive and serious side of the artist which was ultimately the sound he was going for. His usage of samples and features were very well thought out. This is definitely an album that I could listen to everyday.