Drake new album: Certified Lover Boy reviews, songs and features - including lyrics of Jay-Z Love All verse

After an eight month delay, Drake has finally released Certified Lover Boy, which features tracks like Fair Trade, Girls Want Girls and TSU
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Drake has finally released his highly anticipated sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy, eight months after it was originally due to be launched.

This is everything you need to know.

When did Drake release the album?

Drake confirmed the album was coming out last week by announcing it on the ESPN show SportsCenter.

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Initially it was meant to be coming out in January of 2021, but was ultimately postponed due to the rapper recovering from knee surgery.

Earlier this week the artwork for the album was released, which features nine pregnant women emojis. It was designed by artist Damien Hirst and garnered some pretty mixed reactions online - fellow rapper Lil Nas X parodied the cover art by releasing a picture of nine pregnant men emojis to promote his own album coming out later this month.

Certified Lover Boy was officially released on all streaming platforms today, Friday 3 September.

What’s the tracklist and who features on it?

Certified Lover Boy consists of 21 songs in total, and features collaborators like 21 Savage and Jay-Z.

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For the bio of the album on Apple Music, Drake wrote that the album is about “a combination of toxic masculinity and acceptance of truth which is inevitably heartbreaking”.

This is the full tracklist:

  • Champagne Poetry
  • Papi’s Home 
  • Girls Want Girls [ft. Lil Baby]
  • In the Bible [ft. Lil Durk and Giveon]
  • Love All [ft. Jay-Z]
  • Fair Trade [ft. Travis Scott]
  • Way 2 Sexy [ft. Future and Young Thug]
  • TSU
  • N 2 Deep [ft. Future]
  • Pipe Down
  • Yebba’s Heartbreak 
  • No Friends in the Industry 
  • Knife Talk [ft. 21 Savage and Project Pat]
  • 7am on Bridle Path
  • Race My Mind
  • Fountains [ft. Tems]
  • Get Along Better [ft. Ty Dolla $ign]
  • You Only Love Twice [ft. Rick Ross and Lil Wayne]
  • IMY2 [ft. Kid Cudi]
  • F***ing Fans 
  • The Remorse 

While not appearing by name on the track list, the second song, Papi Home, includes some background vocals from Nicki Minaj.

What’s the Jay-z verse?

Jay-Z features on the song Love All on the Certified Lover Boy album.

His verse, according to music site Genius, goes as follows:

“N****s wanted to kill me and y’all still with ‘em N****, y’all chill with ‘em, and y’all wonder why we not friends? Best thing I can do is not build with you When I could destroy you, that takes some f****n’ discipline I could send a team to come drill you I got a billion or two and I know where the f**k you live N****s gotta chill with talking gangsta You should just thank us, humble yourselves a little bit This ain’t the same Shawn that you knew once I don’t shine shoes, uh, this ain’t what you want, no All that back and forth on the internet N****, we don’t tennis that, y’all gotta do something, yeah Only thing we ‘spect now is violence Anything besides this, we playing violins, uh I’m public enemy N****s wanted to kill me and y’all want me to be friendly N****s want sympathy after they wanted to end me Be those closest to it be the very ones that envy Shout out to the family I don’t want no friends no more, not many understand me Everybody want something You know the price of everything but the value of nothing But everybody want something You know the price of everything but the value of nothing”

What are reviewers saying about the album?

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Since the album has only just been released, not many reviewers have shared their thoughts yet - but the reviews that have been published online have been decidedly mixed.

Rhian Daly from NME called Certified Lover Boy “a boring, bloated disappointment”.

Daly awarded the album a paltry two out of five stars, saying that Drake sounds “jaded and dull, treading water while he once again whines about women and fame”.

Ed Power from iNews upped the star rating to a three out of five, and gave the album an altogether kinder review.

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“Though hooks and banging beats are at a premium, his “sad lothario” persona, if slightly frayed this far into his career, still casts a spell,” Power says.

He goes on to say that while Certified Lover Boy is “ultimately a long way short of spectacular”, that “isn’t to say it lacks charm”.

Power ends the review by saying: “For those willing to stay the course this ego-trip is not without its rewards.”

David Smyth at the Evening Standard gave the new album a dazzling four stars saying that “there’s lots to delight fans” despite “less musical variety than on some past work”.

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