On October 6th, Canadian rapper and vocalist Drake released his new highly anticipated eighth studio album, For All The Dogs.
On the outside of the new album, listeners view cover art drawn by none other than Drake’s 5-year-old son, Adonis. Adonis’ drawing on the cover depicts a playful illustration of a white dog with bright red eyes and a pitch-black background. Inside the album, there are 23 songs and a variety of featured artists like SZA, J.Cole, Bad Bunny, 21 Savage, and Yeat.
Despite the anticipation and excitement around the drop of For All The Dogs, the album has had mixed reviews since its release. While some listeners enjoyed and praised the new music, many were disappointed by Drake’s lack of consistency and deviation from his previous works. Tracks are influenced by the gritty trap music genre, but also more R&B beats of past works of Drake’s. With the mixture of Drake’s recent sounds, past sounds, and a few filler songs, the album felt inconsistent to many listeners as the songs sometimes lacked cohesiveness, felt out of place, and did not show anything truly new or different from Drake. Anthony Fantano, a music critic who reviews albums on his successful YouTube channel, theneedledrop, sums up the flaws of For All The Dogs commenting, “I think Drake unfortunately just doesn’t really have the full capacity to edit himself effectively at this point as there are so many bars and tracks just flying on this thing that don’t really add to the the overall vibe of the record.”
Despite the criticism the album has received, it still has been successful as numerous songs from the record are still dominating the Billboard Global 200 chart, and many of these songs are accumulating streams on music platforms like Spotify and Apple Music rapidly. Juliette Maro ‘26 shares, “It was not as good as some of his other albums, but I still enjoyed it and there are definitely songs I would listen to again.”
The album has several highlights in the tracklist that have already gained popularity. Highlights include a rowdy and high-energy track that features rapper Yeat titled “IDGAF,” which debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart following the album’s release. The first track, “Virginia Beach,” includes heartfelt lyrics from Drake and samples “Wiseman,” an unreleased song by singer-songwriter Frank Ocean. Another track that has gained attention is the lead single off the album “Slime You Out,” which features stupendous vocals from singer SZA.
To the surprise of many, Drake revealed that he would be taking a break from music to focus on his health after releasing this new album. So, for those who enjoyed Drake’s latest album For All The Dogs, hopefully, the new songs hold them over until he returns to music. And for those who did not enjoy the album, it can be hoped that perhaps his hiatus from music will give him a chance to reset and perfect his sound for future projects.
