Certified Lover Boy
| Drake
Certified Lover Boy
Certified Lover Boy is the sixth studio album by Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on September 3, 2021, by OVO Sound and Republic Records. Its production was handled by frequent collaborators 40, Nineteen85, PartyNextDoor, OZ, and Vinylz, among others. Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giveon, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Yebba, 21 Savage, Project Pat, Tems, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Kid Cudi appear as guest artists. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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The Wall Street Journal
The latest album from the superstar is light on substance but thick with surface-level pleasure.
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Pitchfork
Drake’s sixth album sounds good but feels labored. Melancholic and often incisive, it becomes an overlong and very familiar journey through the life, mind, and heart of Drake.
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Rolling Stone
Drake offers a keen reminder of why he’s loved by so many people all over the world. If only he could convince himself of that fact.
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GQ
In fact, CLB suffers from the same structural problems as Donda. It is interminably long and utterly directionless; an inattentive listener might believe his mind has wandered while the album wrapped up and began again from the top, a snake eating its tail in midtempo. Drake has made bloated records before, though to more discernible ends.
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Niner Times
All in all, I am happy that the fan bases of both Kanye West and Drake got new material from their idols. I hope that peaceful discussion between the two fan bases will be the key to fully grasp the meanings, shapes and colors that both albums display. There is plenty of good to say about both albums, but in terms of the raw content of each, I think "CLB" comes out on top in terms of quality, production and a large selection of tracks that are actually worth everyone's time.
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Stereogum
Listening to a new Drake record on headphones is like walking through a serene, spacious, extremely expensive piece of modern architecture. It’s antiseptic and soulless, and the air conditioning is probably on way too high, but it’s impressive, regardless. What can I say? The motherfucker makes hits.
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Sputnik Music
Every song here is meaningless, hollow, safe, and forgettable. The most memorable thing about this album isnt even the music, its the laughably bad cover art.
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NME
On his sixth studio album, Drizzy sounds jaded and dull, treading water while he once again whines about women and fame.
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Slant Magazine
Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is a distended confessional wherein the rapper attempts to reaffirm his image as a sweet-talking power player.
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MSN
Album’s greatest crime is how bland and boring it is.
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The Guardian
trawl through a conflicted psyche.
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The Ringer
Drake can still operate on a level that few other artists can, but on his new album, it feels like he’s stuck in place.
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Peanut Butter Pope
I’d call ‘Certified Lover Boy’ a mess, but mess would imply there was ambition that didn’t pan out…
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Evening Standard
This script feels familiar, but fans will love it.
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The Washington Post
He’s right about that, at least. Nobody needs to pray for the rich in this failing world. Like a Drake song, their continued security remains an inevitability, too. As for this new pile of Drake songs, they feel mostly meaningless. Drake will be fine.
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The Post
‘Certified Lover Boy’ is pain and pleasure.
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The Harvard Crimson
There’s nothing more disappointing than a bloated, generic, and recycled album. Where’s the chameleon Drake that dared to experiment? Where’s the ambitious rookie that took risks? The elusive persona that was promised to be unveiled in this album? Instead of following through on the promise of evolution, he made the album where all Drake songs go to die.
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Ratings Game Music
Drake albums are so f**king hard to review. It’s not like any of the songs on CLB are bad, it’s just that a lot of them sound like generic Drake songs. Since Drake is the most imitated artist in the history of hip-hop, we’ve heard so many Drake-like songs in the last ten years, so hearing Drake make songs that sound exactly like songs that he would make doesn’t excite me (I hope that makes sense). I just feel like I could predict a lot of his moves on this album.
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Irish Examiner
Solid stuff from the Canadian star, even if it could do with a few more revved-up moments.
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Slate
Six albums in, why is this man still rapping about his iPhone?
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AV Club
This is Drake's third studio album in a row that's merely adequate, another missed opportunity from the talented rapper.
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The American River Current
”Certified Lover Boy” is another masterpiece to add to Drake’s amazing discography.
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Pop Goes the Weasel
Like Kanye, Drake is more and more leaning into his most divisive personality traits, almost to the point of collapse. He seems increasingly set on presenting the worst version of himself and while ‘Certified Lover Boy’ isn’t the worst Drake album, it does feel like the least forgiving.
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Marquette Wire
Overall, CLB was definitely worth the wait and you can tell a lot was put into this project. While I wouldn’t rank this album among his best pieces of work, this is far from bad. Despite the wait, Drake provided a memorable and overall fun album for his fans.
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Daily Bruin
Drake displays stagnant artistry, overdone themes in ‘Certified Lover Boy’.
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Commedia
“CLB” is a really good album that has a deep track list and very well produced beats. The only thing holding Drake and his album back is its lack of innovation.
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HipHop DX
Despite the petty antics surrounding the album’s release, Certified Lover Boy is unstressed and unbothered. It’s an album by a man who has to laugh loudest and longest, a man who has to be in on the joke because the alternative is being the punchline. It feels like stretching out next to the world’s largest residential pool, or wearing an emerald-encrusted Patek Philippe, or doing shots at Tao, carefree and wealthy as emoji meme art by Damien Hirst.
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Vinyl Chapters
It feels almost sacrilegious to be so dissatisfied with the sixth studio album of one of the most prolific rappers of our time, yet here we are.
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Earmilk
Certified Lover Boy is a solid offering from Drake, who is deep into his career at this point and has already made a massive impact on culture in recent years. However, despite all that he has achieved, he still maintains his energy and ambition across the album, while simultaneously sounding more mature as an artist. That in itself is an impressive achievement, and a testament to his longevity, focus, and vision.
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411mania
Drake reaches his self-pitying nadir on Certified Lover Boy; an uninspired and interminable album that shows few (if any) signs of lyrical growth as Drizzy is outshone and outworked by his A-list guest stars. There are intriguing and ingenious beats to be found on this album, but Drake is too busy sleepwalking and score settling to tackle the weighty themes of paternity and responsibility that could have defined his sixth LP.
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The Line of Best Fit
Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is well executed yet devoid of ambition.
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The Campus
To say that Certified Lovers Boy was “Mid” or just terrible is wrong; it’s just missing a vibe and clarity on what Drake is trying to deliver in this album. There is no clear mood made on this song and it seems as if it was just a bunch of random songs Drake made and threw them together for an album.
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Hot New HipHop
Perhaps it's fair to say that one's enjoyment for Certified Lover Boy will derive almost exclusively from one's appreciation for Drake's story as presented so far; one's willingness to suspend disbelief in favor of immersion. Those looking for a reinvention of the Drake formula will likely be disappointed -- though anyone paying attention will have already known that it was probably never going to happen in the first place.
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musicOMH
Drake was once a consistently enjoyable performer, but those days are long gone. He has fallen into a deep complacency, and it’s unlikely that he’ll be shaken out of it until his sales decrease, making this yet another unimpressive, tedious release.
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AllMusic
As it stands, the album is an overlong, undercooked, and clichéd listen that will no doubt appeal to the Drake fans who can't get enough of him, but will leave anyone looking for something new sadly out of luck.
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Hardwood and Hollywood
Fans are often misunderstood that these high-ranking songs and albums automatically mean they’re fantastic albums. That isn’t always the case and Certified Lover Boy is a prime example.
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The Butler Collegian
Hoehn and Howe both agree that rather than sending profound messages of awareness, introspection and personal change, Drake wallows lyrically in his fame and wealth to an excessive amount. These longtime fans can no longer empathize with a man once “in his feelings,” if you will. It seems that an old dog may not be able to learn new tricks, but when that dog maintains legend status few rappers have been able to achieve, the internet will still throw him a bone
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The Arts Desk
It feels rehashed, but the way it captures Drake at an awkward junction in his life is intriguing.
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Clash Magazine
Drake took three years out, enough time to go out and experience new things, change lifestyle and come back re-energised. Alas, the Pregnant Woman Emoji album is more of the same at its core.
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The Needle Drop
Certified snoozer.
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Firstpost
Certified Lover Boy is an almost 90-minute experience of navel gazing that might work with his fans who remain reluctant to admit to the sameness of Drake’s works. It lacks some of the refreshing sonic elements of Donda, and seems like a Ctrl C + Ctrl V job of his greatest hits.
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The Daily Mississippian
Up close and in the moment, the album isn’t all that bad. But stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, “Certified Lover Boy” is painfully forgettable. It lacks emotion. It lacks depth. It lacks passion – all the things that made Drake great before the world labeled him the greatest.
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