Drake is now dancing: "Honestly, Nevermind"

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Rapper Drake (2021 in London): Dance-Pop instead of Hip-Hop

Photo: Jordan Curtis Hughes / PA Media / dpa

"Honestly?

Forget it!« This is how you could translate the title of Drake's seventh studio album, which the Canadian rapper released on streaming services on Friday night without prior notice.

And that's exactly what many initially irritated fans may have thought when they heard their idol's 14 new songs: The 35-year-old hardly raps on his tracks anymore, he sings!

And apart from a few pieces, the music is no longer hip-hop, but light, very summery, homogeneously flowing dance-pop, introduced by a jazzy instrumental intro.

The best moments include the falsetto-sung ballad "Falling Back," which propels forward on a minimal electronic groove, the Caribbean-leaning "Texts Go Green," and the almost flawless UK house track "Massive."

The WTF storm on Twitter was not long in coming.

Drake is now making music for the snippet video platform TikTok, one wrote, others complained that the new album was a soundtrack for nail salons or trend boutiques: nothing for supposedly "real" men, so you could read from the comments.

That won't matter to Drake, though, since he's already

breaks with the traditional images of masculinity of his genre - and is therefore considered an emotional softie rapper.

In the past he has repeatedly released extremely danceable tracks that are among his greatest hits, including "Toosie Slide" and "One Dance".

Songs of this caliber are not found on "Honestly, Nevermind" according to the first impression, it's more the consequence of not only interspersing pop and dance, but putting them in the foreground, which amazes.

Drake has long been one of those rappers who broadened their horizons, incorporating Caribbean, African and British dance, techno and grime trends into his music.

Perhaps it is precisely this openness that made him one of the most successful stars of the genre alongside Kanye West, Eminem and Jay-Z with over 150 million records.

Honestly, Nevermind was again produced by Drake's usual collaborators and beat purveyors, including Noah "40" Shebib and Tay Keith, but the cast also includes established European electronic musicians like Berlin's Rampa & Me, Alex Lustig and South African DJ Black Coffee.

The only feature, US rapper 21 Savage, then also takes part in the only classic rap track on the album: the closing track "Jimmy Crooks",

Apparently Drake wants to drive out a particularly bad and sad time with his new dance tunes, maybe even a breakup, as many of the wounded lyrics of the album suggest, but also a statement that the rapper made in the usual self-pitying and slightly mimosa-like style for the release on Instagram: "I'm not at a stage in my life where a pat on the back will help me get through this.

Loyalty is more important to me than an 'oh my' & emoji fire," he writes.

He knows that those who tell him they love him don't love him all the time, he adds: "I know what's what and, above all, what and who is by my side."

It is questionable whether Drake will succeed with his new sound in getting nine tracks from his then current album into the charts at the same time, as he did last year, but that "Certified Lover Boy" may have been very successful, but as ordinary , self-revolving hip-hop album also very boring – and very long.

Drake's take on the rather short Honestly, Nevermind, on the other hand, is refreshing, an evolution with global pop appeal that's a little reminiscent of 2009, when Kanye West released his electronic ballad album 808 & Heatbreak - and the hip-hop community similarly alienated.

Today it is considered a classic, which brought the autotune vocals to the genre, among other things, from which the new dance-pop singer Drake is now benefiting.

It doesn't matter whether this album is a casual finger exercise or a well-thought-out change of strategy: Drake ultimately becomes a pop artist who no longer primarily recruits his audience from the rap environment, but from more open and diverse communities.

In the short film for “Falling Back”, which was also released on Friday, he first celebrates his loverboy image once again and lets a whole horde of frilled brides be led down the aisle.

Among them is the German model Lisa Straube, who has recently been said to have a liaison with Drake.

Such polygamy, even if it's meant to be funny, is of course a macho move.

He can never please everyone.

But honestly?

Nevermind.