- When Drake first announced "For All the Dogs," he teased a return to the old him.
- On the album, the old Drake does return, but only briefly.
When Drake announced his new album "For All the Dogs" back in June, he teased a return to the old him.
"They say they miss the old Drake girl don't tempt me," he wrote on the title page of the website titlesruineverything.com.
Released Friday, the old Drake returns on "For All the Dogs" as promised, but only for a short cameo.
Trap Drake
In recent years, Drake has incorporated elements of different genres into his work while they are at the peak of their popularity.
On 2017's "More Life," Drake dabbled with the sounds of dancehall and afrobeats. On 2020's "Dark Lane Demo Tapes," he took influence from the UK drill scene. 2022's "Honestly, Nevermind," meanwhile, was a house music album with elements of amapiano.
Given that trap music is now at the forefront of popular music, it's no surprise that the genre plays a leading role on "Dogs."
We're introduced to trap Drake as soon as the album begins, with the Canadian rapper speaking crudely of a former flame over rolling triplets on "Virginia Beach."
"Pussy ain't makin' me tweak, ended up stayin' a week," he raps."She pretty but ghetto, pretty but rough, just like Virginia Beach."
Themes of money, haters, and women (including what appears to be a thinly veiled shot at Rihanna) continue to dominate up until track nine — with the exception of "Amen" featuring Teezo Touchdown — as Drake becomes more aggressive in his delivery. The beats follow suit with each song.
"Shout' to my ex, I'm her lifesaver / My Glocky, it sit on the night table / You light on the waist like a lightsaber," he spits on "IDGAF."
By track nine, "Slime You Out" featuring SZA, however, the album takes a turn.
Enter the old Drake
Drake never made it clear which iteration of him would be back on "For All the Dogs" — but the middle section of the album does that for us.
Comprising mostly ambient, melodic tracks speckled with soul samples and piano riffs, tracks nine to 18 evoke memories of the Drake heard on his second and third studio albums, "Take Care" and "Nothing Was the Same."
On "Bahamas Promises," Drake reflects on lost love ("I'm tired of your apologies / Broken pinky promises, you fucked up my Bahamas trip"), while on "Members Only" featuring PartyNextDoor, he sings of how highly he values loyalty in his sexual relationships ("You're too down with the gangy, you're one of my members").
On the album's standout track, "8AM in Charlotte," Drake touches on everything from the joys of fatherhood to his long-standing dominance of the rap industry.
"Things get kinky after 15 years of dominance / That October sky is lookin' ominous, the money is autonomous," he raps.
This Drake — introspective, insightful, and romantic — is the Drake that made him a global superstar and amassed an army of fans, both men and women, across the globe.
But just as soon as the old Drake returns on "Dogs," he is gone.
The album closes out with a confused succession of tracks, including a moombahton number featuring Bad Bunny ("Gently"), and an unlistenable Chicago house song featuring Sexyy Red and SZA ("Rich Baby Daddy").
The album is at times good, but overall, frustrating
None of Drake's previous seven studio albums — even the critically acclaimed "Take Care" — have been cohesive. None tell a story from start to finish, and all of them contain outlying tracks that don't fit.
"For All the Dogs" suffers the same problems.
Top to bottom, it's not an easy listen and it feels as if it should be broken into three separate projects — one trap, one R&B, and one of unreleased singles.
At 23 tracks, the album is also too long, just like 2018's "Scorpion" and 2021's "Certified Lover Boy."
Despite these issues, Drake does deliver some of his best work in recent years on "Dogs," most notably "Amen," Bahamas Promises," and "8AM in Charlotte," on which he both croons and raps over ethereal beats in a way no other rapper-cum-singer can.
Had Drake decided to make a whole album in that vein, "Dogs" could have been what he promised — a return to the old him.
Unfortunately, "Dogs" is instead a meandering record that lacks depth and can't decide what it wants to be, with Drake once again hopping on the trends du jour rather than owning his own distinctive sound.