Views
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CRITIC REVIEWS
80
Views isn’t a perfect album – some judicious pruning of the less impactful tracks would make it more easily digestible, and there are certainly moments when you start to wish Drake would cast his gaze a little further afield than his own navel.
80
Aubrey has reclaimed his position delivering the ardently despondent music he initially built his reputation on, through patented melancholy, petty pretentiousness and newly adopted riddims.
80
The Canadian rapper continues to dissect relationships and miscommunications, though there’s no new Hotline Bling.
80
This is glittering, diamond-sharp stuff that sees Drake switch from the dulcet lothario of ‘Take Care’ to the clipped, canine street rapper of ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’. The result is new patterns, new tones and new pockets of Drake’s secret weapon: empty space.
80
Drake delivers a strong album that will undoubtedly get played for months and even years to come, but at this point he should be pushing the boundaries in his music.
80
‘Views’ should be a slog. But remarkably, his signature brand of downbeat introspection remains gripping.
80
It's a slow album, but through multiple listens, we're treated to the same complexities, but personal and musical, that have made him such a fascinating figure throughout the past decade.
75
Given all the resources he has, the album may have been too big to fail, but he’s still maintained enough of his unique talent that it’s unlikely anyone could have done it better.
75
Drake still remains a master at producing low-key mesmerizing rap, but the Views are slightly less breathtaking here.
70
Views is a truly glacial, intensely morose album, one that confronts the same basic concerns as previous efforts, while further amplifying their significance.
70
Drake has tilled this soil on several albums, with little new insight or complexity unearthed here; the result is an occasionally excellent LP that feels, naggingly, like a missed opportunity.
70
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who listen for lyrics, and those who listen for beats. If you belong to the latter group, then Views will be one of the best albums released this year. If you’re in the former, well… lines like “I’m a staple in the game, all my papers together” might tarnish golden production work from Noah “40” Shebib, Boi1da, nineteen85, and Maneesh, among others.
68
Drake's fourth proper album feels claustrophobic and too long and weirdly monotone, but the occasional tweaks in sound lead to a few great moments.
67
Even more so than 2013’s Nothing Was The Same, an otherwise fantastic effort that hugged its predecessors’ template a little too tightly, Views can’t escape the sense that Drake’s done this before and done it better.
60
As emotional and specific as Drake is in his lyrics, Views often feels uninspired. He continues to grow as a singer, but his rhymes are stuck in a broody and banal limbo, stubbornly beholden to the boring machismo of American hip-hop drama but also drawn to the eclecticism of the world beyond.
60
There are enough moments of glory and splendour here to validate Drake’s position at the head of the hip-hop table, but you wonder whether he can stay there much longer without doing something drastically different.
60
For him to be so often contented with merely satisfactory results is somehow much more disappointing than a total failure.
60
To say Views is a victory lap after the successes of his two mixtapes from 2015 is a lie: no victory lap in hip-hop sounds so supine and inert.
60
Views, like Take Care and Nothing Was the Same before it, is brilliant in places and thoroughly bloated in others. Most interesting is how Drake manages to vacillate so dramatically between being so likeable one minute and so off-puttingly self-involved the next.
60
‘Views’ is far from perfect. Yes, at times it does drag a little and - though clever and often charming - the content isn’t particularly inspiring. But that’s not who Drake is and it never will be; he’s arrogant, self-obsessed and a little bit goofy.
60
At 20 tracks, Aubrey for the most part provides a rather overweight and lethargic waltz through his musical comfort zone.
58
Kanye West’s 2010 magnum opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, takes a piercing look at the relationship between humanity and celebrity. Such a duality is clearly what Drake sought to explore on his 4th studio effort, Views, yet he falls short at almost every turn.
58
Drake may not be “making a statement” in the way people might expect him to, but there’s no denying he’s saying something.
50
Frankly, it's become as boring and annoying as a needle stuck in a groove. No matter how ably the production casts his raps and ballads in the best possible light, no matter how well the frequent use of chopped and swirled samples from '90s R&B songs fit in the mix, no matter that the occasional song rises up from the narrative and makes a splash, the album is a meandering, dreary rehash of what Drake has done before in much better fashion.
50
In the lead up to Views, it felt like he was about to make another winning manoeuvre. It’s this elaborate warmup which makes Views so disappointing. A great album artist turning in an overly long and largely unimaginative extension of things we’ve already heard.
50
There really isn’t a whole lot that can be said about VIEWS that hasn’t already been said about Drake’s three previous albums. For an artist so eager to entertain, so set on proving his superstar status in a fickle industry, he surprisingly doesn’t take any risks in order to do something truly different.
40
Rarely has one man moaned quite so much about so little.
40
Canada's own Drake returns with his most drab commercial release yet.
when drizzie releases a new record, it becomes a warzone and you gotta Keep the Family Close. although this doesn't out-right suck, it's def. not even coming close to a 9, U With Me? i Feel No Ways about the Hype, although Weston Road Flows almost had me feeling some Redemption for drake. id be willing to listen to this With You whether you're a Faithful drake fan or a hater hollaring "im Still Here!" we get it you can't Controlla your mouth when it comes to your opinion. but all ... read more
To reuse the rollercoaster metaphor of Drake's career, we have passed the lift hill, down we go.
This is the album where I think Drake has begun to go downhill. Once again, like I said in my other Drake reviews, there's really nothing here that makes this an enjoyable or memorable listening experience. There are some great tracks here, and I think "Hotline Bling," despite being solely a bonus track on this record, is actually one of my favourite songs that Drake has put out. It's fun, catchy, and witty at times, and it's just a good song overall, but nearly every track besides ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Keep the Family Close 5:28 | 72 |
| 2 | 9 4:15 | 67 |
| 3 | U With Me? 4:57 | 66 |
| 4 | Feel No Ways 4:00 | 75 |
| 5 | Hype 3:29 | 67 |
| 6 | Weston Road Flows 4:13 | 74 |
| 7 | Redemption 5:33 | 58 |
| 8 | With You 3:15 feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR | 55 |
| 9 | Faithful 4:50 | 49 |
| 10 | Still Here 3:09 | 61 |
| 11 | Controlla 4:05 | 64 |
| 12 | One Dance 2:53 | 72 |
| 13 | Grammys 3:40 feat. Future | 58 |
| 14 | Child's Play 4:01 | 59 |
| 15 | Pop Style 3:32 | 60 |
| 16 | Too Good 4:23 feat. Rihanna | 71 |
| 17 | Summers Over Interlude 1:46 | 72 |
| 18 | Fire & Desire 3:58 | 61 |
| 19 | Views 5:11 | 74 |
| 20 | Hotline Bling 4:27 Bonus Track | 80 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 21 minutes
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Added on: February 9, 2016