The wait has finally come to an end! After the postponement of the album’s release, which sparked a frenzy within the fanbase, Drake’s eighth studio album “For all the Dogs” was released.
The postponement of the album created more suspense behind the already enormous expectations and mixed feelings of fans. Prior to the full release, Drake released the single “Slime on You” featuring SZA, but the song didn’t really live up to the standards of some fans.
In response to the single, freshman Kajsa Banks said “He’s doing something different and I don’t know if I like it”.
“The Drake Album didn’t really live up to what I thought it was” Banks continued, “I wanted it to be old Drake but it wasn’t”.
Despite the mixed reviews from some fans, the album accumulated 108.6 million Spotify streams in one day, as well as 411,000 album equivalent units (a measurement of streams into albums sales) sold in one week. It reached a higher number of copies sold then his last collaborative album with 21 Savage, “Her Loss”, but didn’t quite reach the numbers of “Certified Lover Boy”. “For all the Dogs” is also predicted to top the Billboard charts next week, as it has already topped some in Australia and the U.K.
Even with the chart topping numbers, some fans are still disappointed with the direction Drake chose to take. “I didn’t really like it”, Sophomore Meagan Kelliher said. “I miss his older stuff. He used to have really good music, so I was expecting something legendary but instead we got some goofy songs”.
Many other fans feel the same.
“I’m a big fan of ‘Her Loss’, so I was excited for collabs with 21 Savage again, but it just wasn’t the same,” junior Claire Heaney said.
Collabs were a big part of the album with ten out of the 23 songs on the tracklist being collaborations. With his previous album also being a collaboration with 21 Savage, the expectations of what the songs would be like added to the ever growing hype around the album, especially with the collaborations being with other big players including SZA, Chief Keef, J.cole, Yeat, 21 Savage, and many others.
On the topic of collabs, Banks said, “Some of the songs and collabs were good though, like “First Person Shooter” featuring J.Cole. I like Drake and J.Cole so I was really hyped that they had collabed”.
Although the album may not have been what everyone had thought, it didn’t mean that the album was not appreciated.
“Even with the album not being what I expected I still enjoy some of the songs,” Heaney said.
As people continue to listen, with many of the songs already becoming popular on social media platforms including Tiktok, the controversy about how fans truly feel about it continues to spread. There is no doubt that “For all the Dogs” will continue to grow and Drake will stay at the top of his game.
