Photo by Adonis Graham
While walking around the beautiful campus of West Chester University, I wanted to talk to students about arguably the best musician of this generation and, to some, of all time. Drake released his newest album, “For All the Dogs” (2023), on Oct. 6. I asked students how they felt about the album, with most answering that it was good, but nothing like his last albums. My follow-up question was, “What made his last albums better than this one?” Many couldn’t give me an exact answer — it was mostly a mix of “I don’t know, there’s just something about it that isn’t as good” and “I just think he’s too old to be talking about women the way that he does.”
There was one student, Brandon Fotibu, who absolutely loved the album and told me that “anyone that doesn’t like this album is going with the trend online and isn’t really listening to what he is producing and saying.” I followed up by asking about what trend he was referring to, to which Fotibu stated that “the trend is to critique every little thing that was wrong about the album and leave out the good. This happens with every rapper that is at the top of the charts for a long period of time — people hate to see them keep winning so they do everything they can to knock them down a peg”. Other students who loved the album told me that the work Drake releases has been consistent and that the artist has never released a song they’ve absolutely hated. Students also said if Drake and his friends hadn’t hyped up “For All the Dogs” in the media, there wouldn’t be as much criticism from fans or the media. According to an article from The New York Times, Drake himself has described the album as “one of [his] best,” which built higher expectations for people. Perhaps that was done on purpose to create good and bad opinions on the marketing side of things.
I, myself, believe the album is good, but Drake’s new music will never be like his previous music simply because people evolve and life goes on. People experience different things in life that change them for better or worse. You can look into all the greatest artists in the world and listen to their music from when they first started up until now and the music will be completely different. It’s just the way life goes. My perception is that fans and the media don’t believe these artists are real human beings, and therefore expect perfection from every artist they listen to. Nobody’s perfect.
With the questions I asked and the answers I received, students that loved the album and students that said it didn’t exactly meet their expectations both ended the conversation by saying they will still be streaming songs off “For All the Dogs” for a long time. It’s evident that although “For All the Dogs” may not be the most fan favorite album, it’s certainly not the most hated. And even with criticism from the students on campus, it will still be streamed irregardless
Jamari Brown is a fifth-year Media & Culture major. JB939541@wcupa.edu