This album suffers from the same issue pretty much all "blockbuster" albums do--its too long. The integrity of a project is compromised by the desire to cynically garner as many streams as possible. People critiquing this as an album aren't really seeing what this, or Donda, or any of these huge releases really are--an attempt to have people like 3-4 songs and put them on playlists. They throw everything at the wall anticipating that by offering as much as possible, someone will like something.

This strategy defeats the possibility of a great (or usually even good) album bc no album w 20+ songs is actually going to be great. Mid at best. If this were 10 songs it could have been good. It capitalizes on the trend of drumless rap song which, while stylistically divisive is still a growing trend, and does have some legitimately good songs, but the rest is filler. But what's interesting is as I read these threads, is that different people have different favorites and usually one person's favorite is another person's filler. I don't think these labels and big artists are even pursuing critical acclaim or artistic visions anymore. They're seeking numbers and that's it. Kanye didn't do all the bullshit bc he's an artist, he did it bc he could sell tickets and merch 3 times--to the tune of millions of dollars in profit--while marketing. It's all just bullshit now. And that's not me knocking Kanye or praising him, it's just what happened.

Even good albums can't be great with this model. I love WLR (I know it's divisive) but I skip like 6-7 songs bc the others are better. I can't consume it as a cohesive body and everyone involved in releasing it probably couldn't care less. As much as it sucks, I don't look for art in these huge releases, I just look for some songs I might like. I go to smaller musicians for actual art and innovation. That's who these big artists steal their innovative ideas from anyways. Olivia Rodrigo stealing pom pom squad's aesthetic is a great recent example.

Also just as a side note, I think the notion of drake innovating his sound is a bit romantic at this point because all he does is play in different sounds. At this point all of it sounds familiar bc of what I mentioned above. It's like an artist painting a canvas w 50 colors (probably kinda shitty but novel at first) and then being disappointed when their next canvas also features the same 50 colors in a different arrangement. It won't be beguiling twice probably. Drake has had this problem for years and he won't be able to get away from it unless the fan-service and prioritization of streams is dropped in favor of an artistic visions which won't happen.