How did I finesse all of this shit?

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

13/10/23 : For All The Dogs - Drake 

Our fourth and a half visit with Drake (the half was a collaboration with 21 Savage) and I remain mystified as to his popularity - and boy is he popular, with there never being any doubt I was going to listen to this.

Hmmm - it's "fine" at a high level, I guess.  Some bearable rapping/chatting (but not great, either) over some nice enough background bleeps but nothing to make it stand out.  However, if you actually listen to it (which I can't promise I did all the way through) there is just so much casual misogyny and objectification that it gets very tiresome.  And I'm sure if he was pulled up on it he'd either say "Bro, I'm only joking" or "Man, I love pussy", which would only make things worse.  I also REALLY didn't need 84 minutes of it - god, it's tiresome.  I do actually quite like the album cover - it would look good on a teeshirt, except that then everyone would think I'm a Drake fan.

I also have some questions - don't worry, I'm not expecting you to answer them.  Firstly, why the obsession with dogs?  Yes, it gives him the opportunity to use the word "bitch" and claim he's only been contextual, but it goes way deeper than that - way more of it that is necessary is done as a radio show on Radio BARK.  Second, why is he dropping Pet Shop Boys and Florence And The Machine lyrics in there?  And yes, it was "Dog Days Are Over".  And finally, and possibly most mysteriously, is that really Sade on there as a spoken cameo?  I'm interested to see if Wikipedia can explain what's going on...

We're at (of course) #1 with a new entry this week and the rest of the top five are Nines (another new entry), Olivia Rodrigo (she's doing well hanging in there), Roger Waters (another new entry) and Joel Corry.  Those last two are interesting in different ways so let's have a bit of a detour shall we?  Roger Waters is there with "The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux" which sounds like it will either be interesting or a dreadful last-ditch attempt to remain "popular" (and yes, I'll probably check it out).  But it did make me think - what does "redux" actually mean?  I've always taken it to mean "fiddled about with and often simplified" but I doubt that's the official definition, is it?  No - that's simply "brought back" so it's possible Roger's done nothing with it (but that seems unlikely).  The other thing to note about redux is that it's used postpositively, but you knew that already, didn't you?  

The interesting thing about Joel is that this is his thirteenth week on the charts - all of which have been in the #24-#35 range and then suddenly he's at #5.  He does have a single out but it's at #59 so it seems unlikely that's the whole reason - maybe things will become clear with time.  Back to the chart in general, we have one more new entry in the top ten - Sufjan Stevens (#7) which I'm sure the critics love and I'll scratch my head at if I ever listen to it (which I won't).  Last week I predicted that Ed would be at a thoroughly undeserved #8 and I'm somewhat amazed to report that that's EXACTLY where he is.  My first correct prediction ever - well done me (and yes, I know an infinite number of monkeys would get it right every week).  Maintaining the "thoroughly undeserved" theme, I'm gonna say Drake is going to be at #4 next week and this weeks Taylor stats are just the one in the top ten, five in the top twenty and nine in the entire chart (including Fearless having in there at #100).

Wikipedia has quite a lot on the album but most of it is just talking about the promotion and the singles, which is all very dull.  It also lists all the guest artists (yes, it's all the usual bunch) and all the samples (and "interpolations") and Pet Shop Boys are apparently uncredited, which seems odd.  And it tells me it is Sade on there (and Snoop Dogg also appears on one of the other tracks) but gives no further explanation, so I have to thank okayAfrica.com for this amusing article entitled "A History Of Drake's Uncomfortable Obsession With Sade" - it's well written and really quite the read.

Back to the album (again - we're getting very distracted today!) the critics are amusingly mixed on it and I'm obviously not going to quote anything nice anyone has said about it.  AllMusic tell us it has "topics that range from how great Drake is to how rich Drake is to how misunderstood Drake is" and Pitchfork says "the music can't save him from himself".  And quite a few people mention the misogyny as well.  And has that affected the commercial performance?  Has it bollocks, with it getting to #1 in far too many countries.

"Customers also listened to" Fanzy The DJ, Lil Wayne, Young Thug and OFFSET - no thanks.  And no thanks to Drake either - it's bearable unless you actually listen to it.

06/10/23 - Astonishingly average
20/10/23 - An ambitious triumph