Media Blog Project 2

Media Project Review

Album cover: Drake and PartyNextDoor posing in front of the CN Tower in Ontario, Canada

Introduction: 

The music recording I chose to analyze is an LP by Drake and PartyNextDoor, called “Some S**y Songs For U” (SSS4U). It was released in late February of this year, marking Drake’s 3rd collaboration project and first one with another fellow Toronto R&B artist. This album stands out because this was the first time Drake dropped new music since the rap beef ended. Additionally, fans were very speculative in what kind of approach he was going to take going into this new studio album. Was he going to fire more shots at Kendrick? What type of music or sound would this collaboration entail?

Describe:

Drake is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame on the early TV teenage drama series Degrassi, before diving into lyrical rapping and singing. Drake’s music career has seen significant success marked by numerous awards and record-breaking milestones. He currently holds 5 Grammy Awards, 41 Billboard Music Awards, and was named Billboard artist of the Decade (from 2010-2020). Some of his notable projects include his first solo album, Thank Me Later, followed by the highly praised Take Care LP (won rap album of the year in 2011), Views (arguably Drake’s biggest success from a commercial standpoint – sold 1.04 million album units first week) and much more. Drake and Party’s newest album, SSS4U, sold 246,000 copies in the first week and debuted as the #1 album with over 285 million streams on Spotify.

Analyze:

This album was mostly deep dived into R&B music with a few solo rap cuts by Drake. Considering PartyNextDoor is known for his R&B sound, it makes sense Drake utilized his versatility to contribute meaningful value to the project. What makes Drake so special and idolized by many music fans around the world, is his ability to dive into many genres... In this project, Drake really digs deep into his R&B bag in songs like “Greedy” or “Raining in Houston” where you can feel the low-fi, dark and eerie Toronto sound. Drake also has songs inspired by afrobeats (song called One Dance) or dance/electronic (Honestly Nevermind LP).  

Interpretation:

This collaboration piece by Drake and PartyNextDoor is significant especially for the Canadian culture. It’s two hometown heroes crafting music together that represent what Toronto sound is all about. Both have pioneered a moody, ambient blend of R&B and hip-hop that heavily influences artists worldwide including Bryson Tiller and The Weeknd (in his early days). The target audience for this joint album is primarily R&B and hip-hop listeners. In terms of content, there is explicit language in this project (swear words and rated R content), but offensive stereotypes are not included.

Evaluation:

As a somewhat biased Drake fan, I would give this album a 7/10. By “Drake” standards, this is not his worst work, but also not his best work. One highlight from the project was Drake’s commitment to the staple Toronto R&B sound, which many listeners were reminiscent of Drake’s earlier work. Furthermore, from a commercial sales perspective, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart – indicating strong sales and streaming numbers. Nokia, a smash hit from the record, already has over 250 million streams on Spotify and has taken the music world by storm. This song embodies an 80-90s pop funk sound, which is one of the “fresher” records I heard from Drake in a while. However, despite the huge numbers, a huge weakness was the repetitive content throughout the track list. Many fans/critics labeled the themes as “predictable” and lacking fresh perspectives – particularly topics revolving around love and relationships, and Drake’s wealthy lifestyle. Over the past 5ish years, this has been a consistent problem for Drake, being the lack of originality in his lyrics. Many critics are arguing numbers aren’t a fair assessment of Drake’s music anymore because his “name” will sell no matter what. In other words, he could put out a mediocre album and still go #1 because many people love and will tune in for any new music he drops.

Engage:

Drake is mainly present on Instagram with over 140 million followers. His team also has another Instagram account, called DrakeRelated (2 million followers), which is responsible for “all things Drake”. This includes promotions for album rollouts, merchandise drops, concert notifications, and more. Drake also utilizes YouTube as a platform to release his music, especially music videos. From SSS4U, Drake dropped the "Nokia" music video which has over 20 million views on YouTube. My friends, not so much my family, were pleased with the recording by Drake and PartyNextDoor... In terms of the album from start to finish, they all had their favorite songs, respectively which is a sign of Drake’s versatility and his ability to relate to many audiences.

Summary: 

Overall, I was pleased with the project... Although I will admit I didn’t have a positive first listen of the record, as it took a couple spins through to later grow on me. I really enjoyed being able to dive into this type of music analysis, especially on one of my favorite artists of all time. It was cool to analyze and dissect some of the strengths and weaknesses of the project, and hear what others had to say about it.