Even the Certified Lover Boy gets curved sometimes. He gets faded and in his feelings, has relationships he looks back on with regret and texts women he cares about to no avail. While the title of Drake’s seventh studio album Honestly, Nevermind scans as a callous kiss-off in the vein of Future’s I NEVER LIKED YOU, it bears little of the self-aggrandizement or hyper-masculine posturing of that album or Certified Lover Boy. Instead, while largely taking sonic cues from 2017’s More Life and the second half of 2018’s Scorpion, Drake has crafted a spiritual successor to 2016’s VIEWS, a world-beating pop album by an artist vying for nothing less than global superstardom.
Much like that 2016 album, Honestly, Nevermind makes direct overtures to Top 40 radio, replete with riddims and grooves designed to make listeners dance. More importantly, Drake doesn’t come across as a spokesperson for a brand but as a person. He, like everyone else, fails and falters. This humility was largely absent from 2021’s CLB, a smirking testimonial from an artist whose songs rack up billions of streams. That record often felt rote and formulaic, despite its technical polish. Naturally, it would go on to become the biggest album of his career.
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But that success begs the question: What next? The only way for Drake to get bigger is to go back to the songs that did a billion streams and embedded themselves in listeners’ collective consciousness: “One Dance,” “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” “Take Care.” Minimal swearing, friendly to all settings, inoffensive enough to play in the background but thoughtful enough to reward closer listening. Honestly, Nevermind is an understated pop album made to be listened to with other people, a Drake album with refreshingly low stakes, much to its advantage.
This pivot also offers Drake a way to relate to listeners without sharing too much of himself. Pop music often hinges on non-specificity, allowing listeners to fill in the silhouettes of “you” and “me” with their own personal details. Throughout Honestly, Nevermind, his verses are spare, often allowing the production to communicate as much of the emotion as his pleas for connection.
Album opener “Falling Back” might as well be “Summer Games” Part 2, but his vocal chops have only sharpened over the intervening years. When he climbs into falsetto to croon, “How do you say to my face time heals, then go and leave me again, unreal,” it feels like wheezing out “I’m fine” after a punch to the gut. Even the traditional potshots at exes (“A Keeper”) are softened by his vocal tone, less gleeful and more resigned. “Friendship and loyalty, that’s not what it’s giving” reads hilariously on paper, but on the track, cloaked in strobing synths and sighed “OK, OKs,” it just sounds sad, like falling out with someone close.
Vocally, he relies heavily on his falsetto and breathier registers, speaking in rhythm rather than rapping. While most comparisons of this album to Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak won’t stand the test of time, Honestly, Nevermind has a similarly non-musical approach to singing and rapping, focusing more on conveying emotion than sounding the best. That can result in slightly under-baked songs: “Down Hill” feels cloying rather than transcendent; the pitched-down vocals on “Liability” get in the way of hearing some of his best writing on the album. And he comes across disengaged on “Jimmy Cooks,” as if his heart isn’t really in it. But the net effect is an album that requires no vocal skill to sing along to, AKA, an album that’s extremely easy to sing along with.
On the production front, Noah “40” Shebib is joined by South African house legend Black Coffee and Gordo FKA Carnage. Coffee’s contributions here could be taken as a victory lap of sorts, fresh off winning a Grammy Award for 2021’s Subconsciously. Both of his production credits (“Currents,” “Overdrive”) are among the album’s highlights, but Honestly, Nevermind is a rechristening for Gordo, who produced six of the album’s 12 dance tracks. In interviews this spring, Gordo has spoken at length about feeling “miserable” performing as Carnage, recounting a time when Avicii said “he was happiest when he would step off the stage.” And the album often feels like that exact moment, slowed down and crystallized into four on the floor beats.
“Texts Go Green” opens with a riddim that ripples like a HAIM dance routine before being doused in piano chords reminiscent of ex-OVO signee ILOVEMAKONNEN’s regional hit “Maneuverin.” And the clearest radio smash “Massive” is like if Calvin Harris made a song about coming down off molly.
If Drake wanted to make an upbeat dance record, he could. Instead, the BPM stays just a little too slow for throwing ass, even if the Jersey club bedsprings demand it. And lyrically, he’s not just yearning, but morbidly envisioning his own funeral and refusing to attend the Met Gala without an entourage of bodyguards.
Honestly, Nevermind is dedicated to the late Virgil Abloh, the multi-hyphenate designer who DJ’d clubs from Chicago to Marrakech. In an interview with Highsnobiety, Abloh says “another dream in music is that my friends from Nigeria… can play Coachella and be a household name in the U.S.” Afrobeats doesn’t need any help from Drake taking over the global charts, but much like Justin Bieber’s wave-riding appearance on WizKid’s “Essence,” this album brings that dream one step closer to reality.
Drake’s diasporic pop might scan on first listen as watered down Afrobeats or a dilettante’s foray into club music, but it could also be seen as a natural outcome of those genres’ rising popularity. House purists and Afro-pop fans aren’t wrong to say Drake is colonizing these scenes, but it also doesn’t feel correct to judge Honestly, Nevermind against an album by Peggy Gou or Tems. He’s making dance music the way Zedd or Calvin Harris make dance music, which is to say, making electronic pop songs, verses and choruses alike building toward cathartic non-verbal release.
Where 2017’s More Life functioned as a jukebox, letting Drake karaoke through grime and Afrobeats, Honestly, Nevermind sees him fully integrating disparate ideas with his own sound. It’s the difference between Drake hopping on a Ramriddlz remix and Drake getting a guest feature from Lil Baby; the former sees him entering someone else’s world, while the latter sees collaborators operating on his terms. Honestly, Nevermind is the strongest case to date for differentiating between his “mixtapes/playlists” and full-fledged “albums,” and most clearly explicates the influence of the former on the latter.
Abloh swore by a “three-percent approach,” saying altering an idea or object by just 3 percent was enough to create something totally new. Whether this comes off self-evident and intuitive or lazy and plagiaristic largely boils down to how seriously one chooses to take the artist; the clothes look the same whether someone finds them “overpriced” or “good value,” “boring” or “exciting.”
Drake’s music functions in a similar space, gently massaging and reshaping songs in his own image. Listeners who like Drake’s pop songs will have plenty to enjoy here, while huge fans of his old stuff can play “Jimmy Cooks” on repeat until Scary Hours 3 drops. Honestly, Nevermind isn’t an artistic watershed for house music or Afropop or even the artist at the center of it all. There are no talking points for “Top 5 dead or alive” debates, barely any fodder for TMZ rubberneckers. It’s simply an album of Drake songs people will actually listen to in public, not just while driving, or at the pregame, or through headphones in the early AM uber home.
Honestly, Nevermind isn’t for everyone, but it will be everywhere. As Abloh says halfway through the album, “We weren’t supposed to come up with something this clean. Like, something happened.” He stopped making the Drake album we want him to make and made the Drake album Drake wanted to make. Locked in with producers he trusts and letting his guard down, he sounds more focused and balanced than he has in years. And when it comes to fans who were hoping for Certified Lover Boy 2? Honestly, nevermind.
Huh?? The dude rapped in 2 songs??? I ain’t picking this up if I wanna listen to hip hop. Hard pass
The Gayest Album I’ve Ever Heard. Drake lost his mind with this BS. Even Daft Punk would delete this from their playlist.
Artists don’t give a fuck about their discography legacy anymore
Drake has released plenty of bad albums now, but this is easily his worst. Its the same dang song on repeat!
Iv never really been a big drake fan… Nothing as changed
I’m sorry but the fact that you gave a “pop album” 3.9 on a Hip Hop Website is a sad day for Rap Music
Diasporic for sure. Diasporic, diasporic, diasporic. Excellent journalism and creative writing.
Trash album
I’ve been coming to your website for almost 10 years and noticed Drake’s newest album, Honestly Nevermind was given a 3.9 out of 5. I heard
this album a few days ago and for the first time since I started to listen to hip hop music at 7 years old that listening to this album made me want to
kill someone. I’ve heard music from N.W.A., Necro, Jedi mind tricks and despite their depiction of violent lyrics have NEVER given me this urge
before. This rating is a travesty beyond words. It was horrible, bland, tired effort from someone who has destroyed the culture of hip hop. Drake is
the Brian Adams of hip hop; The Canadian government should apologize for releasing him to the public. And I LOVE Canada.
I don’t care if you respond to this email I just wanted to let you know that you guys dropped the ball on this review. Dogs howling as they mourn
the loss of a pack member sound better than this trite. Toro Y Moi should sue this black face wearing bastard for plagiarism. Whoever is in charge of
reviewing albums in your company needs to get off Drake’s dick. Get an unbiased critic to rate the music. Someone who can separate their personal
biased opinions from the unbiased facts.
Sincerely, JP
P.S. The best albums of the year categories was better off the old way when it was chronological order and 20 or more albums instead of it being a
handful and picking the most popular. I actually listened to more different artists when it was done that way.
Standing ovation for that comment
I tried emailing this to them but none of the contact us emails for the site were working.
Ironically lol
3.9 is way to high , come on hiphopdx do better. Pretty sure you have push album 3.9 too and that was 17273848x better then this.
Boring album for boring people.
Diasporic for da streetz. Dat sound bout ryt. It kinda lyk King Tekashi Tattle Tales project.
So you’re gonna dick ride Drake to almost a 4.0 score, should’ve realized ya were on this type of shit when out of all the Jay-z albums the one that gets a perfect score from ya was is the beyonce one
I don’t get journalists who go into a brainless hip hop album using lines like ” self-aggrandizement or hyper-masculine posturing.” This is a hip hop album review, not a fuckin Ivy League thesis ffs.
Y’all actually rated this higher than Nas kings disease 2 This album & site is some bullshit
Who yall tryin to kid?
This album is for the zesty boys over at the bath houses.
Juicy Smollet rockin to this heavy
This review is embarrassing. Stop letting children who think rap started with Drake write these.
This isn’t even a hip hop album and you rank it higher than actual hip hop albums?? This is a house music album. Drake put out back w back flops this year.
This album is not hip hop, but it definitely has boys on there. For the club/ party scen. Definitely made for people who don’t stand around at parties.
Made of the club / party scene
Gay club and party scene maybe
I respect what the attempt was here, but I just don’t think Drake has the vocals to carry an entire album with his singing. A lot of the production is fine, but Drake’s voice on here is always somewhere between tolerable and headache inducing. The lyrics are devoid of too much meaning, but I’m not really too concerned with that in any dance track. I really only liked Overdrive, Jimmy Cooks, and Liability. He would have done a lot better if he had more features from people a part of the genre. One Dance and Controlla felt more organic because of experienced artists acting as features. Most of the time, this plays like an amateur’s first project in the genre.
Bad, same as the last one.
I honestly didn’t think Drake could do worse than CLB and yet he somehow did. I never understood why anyone would be mentally insane enough to EVER once consider him GOAT
Let’s see how long the label will keep using click farms to put him at number one after 2 flips in a row. Niki, this lame and Weezy have all fallen off. Weezy at least is still real.
This album is made for unemployed bisexuals.
Nope, full blown homeless gay people.
Drake was decent 10+ years ago, pussy ass trash music these days
why is everyone trying to convince us this album is good? It’s veryyyy obvious that we, the people, think it’s trash. Stop trying to force feed us this sh*t.
Yeah I really dont want it
“barely raps, mediocre singing, uses a ghost wrote writer, not even hip hop beats”
HipHopDX – “Drake is a genius!!”
You lot really will kiss his arse no matter what.
Sorry, that thing had 2-3 decent cuts at best.
Garbage like all Drake album.
sounds like gunplays last homo ass album. YO!!!! GAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!
Jimmy cooks alone crushes every album this year so far.
Otherwise, if you don’t like house music, this isn’t for you.
“Man, you need to lay off the crack.”
We need Drake and DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, DJ Quik, The Lox, Busta Rhymes, RZA,Q-Tip… etc it’s very sad that the pillars of today’s generation aren’t pushing their pens with legends… respectfully.
A 2 out of 5 is the necessary score but I still hold faith on one (or another) classic coming from Drake.
this is the last time i opened this garbage pop review website, you pricks dropped the ball with this one. have a shit week.
Its a house music album. And apparently not a good one. You dont have to hype it up cos its Drake.
AS A OLDER DUDE FROM JERSEY WHO ENJOYS HOUSE AND DANCE, THIS ALBUM IS NOT GOOD. ALL THE BEST DANCE ARTISTS EITHER HAD LOW KEY POWERFUL VOCALS, OR DROVE THE SONGS WITH COOL ENERGY AND MAKE YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH THE LADIES. THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE IS MOIST AND MAKES ME WANT TO DRIVE OFF A CLIFF.
Best body of work since IYRTITL
Drake and Kaytranada need to hook up and throw down . The two of them would be crazyyyy!
Great house album. I hated the fact that I didn’t get a some type of heads up that it was going to be this. Something maybe in the intro of the album.
NOPE !!!!
This really sucks.