Certified Lover Boy, album of the year

Ethan Struble, Staff Reporter

So far this year, there has been plenty of new music released. One recent release is Certified Lover Boy, the newest album from Drake.  Certified Lover Boy,  also known as CLB, was released on September 3. This  album was released soon after Kanye West’s album Donda was released, and comparison between the two has sparked many debates.

CLB has a total of 21 songs for a total play time of 1 hour and 26 minutes. A few of the album’s most popular songs are “Girls Want Girls,” “Fair Trade,” and “Champagne Poetry.” All together, the album has accumulated over 744 million total streams in less than a month since its release. With that the album opened up with the year’s biggest week. 

However, the album isn’t just Drake; the album has many popular features within it. Some features include Lil Baby, Future, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and Kid Cudi. These artists each have over 228 million total monthly listeners on spotify. Drake has a number of popular albums, and this one sure did not disappoint. This is just another reason why Drake is one of the most popular artists of his generation.

 The 21 songs on the album have a variety of different vibes. Perhaps you have a game that you’re getting ready for and you need some music to hype you up: the album has songs for that. If you’re not in the best of moods, CLB has some calm music. If you need an album to put you in a great mood –  look no further, CLB has you covered. 

On the other hand, if you need music that is so boring and awful that it makes you tired and hate music, listen to Kanye West. If you’re looking for a whole album of it, listen to Donda. The album has 27 songs for a play time of 1 hour and 48 minutes. The first “song” of the album is just some woman saying Donda over and over for 51 seconds. The album also has mediocre features in it, but you wouldn’t know because the album doesn’t have the features names on the songs. To wrap up the album as a whole, it’s basically 4 minute-long  songs of just instrumental music, with little actual lyrics. 

On the other hand, Drake has many popular songs, but he is also the reason why other artists are popular. When other artists want to have a feature for their album, they try to get Drake. Some of Drake’s most popular songs aren’t even his songs; he just has a part in the song. He has a huge impact on the rise of other artists when they can have him as a featured artist.

It’s not even a toss up between the two, 10 times out of 10 I’m going to listen to CLB. It actually has good, quality music – unlike Kanye’s Donda. Drake is in his prime and CLB is just the beginning. He will continue to create good music for his followers to listen to. Kanye is old and washed up, he just does not have a taste for good music. Drake > Kanye.