Drake – Views

Views is the fourth studio album by Canadian hip hop recording artist Drake. It was released on April 29, 2016, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records.[9] The album was supported by the singles: “Hotline Bling”, “One Dance” featuring Wizkid and Kyla, “Pop Style” featuring The Throne, “Too Good” featuring Rihanna, and “Controlla”.

Views was met with generally mixed reviews by critics; however, the album became Drake’s most successful album on the charts to date, remaining at number one on the US Billboard 200 for eight weeks, while “One Dance” became his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single as a lead artist, spending 7 non-consecutive weeks at number one.

The album’s title was first announced as Views from the 6, as it first appeared from a report in a July 2014 article from Billboard. According to Drake on Twitter, “the 6″ is a reference to his hometown of Toronto, Canada. On April 28, 2016, it was revealed that the title has been shortened to Views. The cover artwork for Views was released via Drake’s Twitter account on April 24, 2016, which features Drake sitting atop the CN Tower in Toronto. The CN Tower’s Twitter account later confirmed it to be photoshopped.

On January 30, 2016, on the OVO Sound Radio show, Drake premiered a single, called “Summer Sixteen” in promotion on what we all thought would be included on his new album. The production on this track was handled and provided by his longtime collaborators 40 and Boi-1da, alongside the Cubeatz. The song contains a sample of the song “Glass Tubes” performed by Brian Bennett. Filip Pągowski designs the cover artwork for the single, who is also the creator for the logo of the Comme des Garçons. The song peaking at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100, which sold 215,000 downloads in its first week, which became the highest debut sales of Drake’s career. On March 26, 2016, the single has sold 358,032 copies in the United States.

On April 4, 2016, the album was initially teased with the album’s leaked cover artwork in London, England. On April 9, 2016, Drake released a trailer for Views on his Twitter. Drake introduces the opening of the “pop-up” stores, where they were given away free black and white T-shirts with “Views” written on the front. Producer 40 stated that he is turning in the mixes for the clean versions were finished; as well as having all sample clearances and credits finalized. On April 26, 2016, Drake revealed that Views would feature 20 songs or more than any previous album; excluding the bonus tracks. After his last appearance at the “pop-up” store in Toronto, Drake released the official album cover artwork on social media. On April 29, 2016, the album premiered on Apple Music’s OVO Sound Radio show, following his interview with Beats 1′s radio host Zane Lowe, and released it on Apple Music and iTunes exclusively.

“Hotline Bling” was released as the album’s lead single on July 31, 2015. The production on this track was handled and provided by Nineteen85.

“One Dance” was released as the album’s second single on April 5, 2016. The song features guest vocals from a Nigerian musician Wizkid and British recording artist Kyla, with the production that was handled and provided by Nineteen85.

“Pop Style” was released as the album’s third single on April 5, 2016. The song features guest vocals from a American hip hop duo The Throne (composed of rappers Kanye West and Jay Z), with the production that was handled and provided by Sevn Thomas and Frank Dukes. Prior to the album’s release, Drake removed these verses by West and Jay Z, and then pre-recorded additionally his own verse to the track.

“Too Good” was released as the album’s first single in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2016. The song features guest vocals from a recording artist Rihanna, with the production that was handled and provided by Nineteen85 and Supa Dups.

Other songs
In August 2014, a one minute-long snippet that was leaked online was the track, called “Views from the Six”. The snippet features a verse by Drake, with the instrumental from the snippet that has been used for the second half of the track “U Wit Me?”, although the lyrics were changed completely. A few weeks before the album’s release, two other tracks were also leaked online: “Faithful” featuring Pimp C, and “Controlla” featuring Popcaan. Both of these tracks were included on the album, but with changes —an additional verse by dvsn was added to “Faithful” and Popcaan’s verse was removed from “Controlla.” After the release of Views, it was revealed that Lil Wayne was initially featured on the song “Hype.” On May 21, 2016, the version featuring Lil Wayne, premiered on OVO Sound Radio show.

Views was met with generally mixed reviews. It received a normalized metascore of 68 out of 100 on the review aggregate website Metacritic based on 30 critics, which indicates “generally favorable reviews.”Alexis Petridis of The Guardian wrote that Views “offers a lengthy inventory of miseries, cleverly offset by a sly sense of humour and eclectic sound” and serves as “compelling evidence that this is the defining pop artist of the moment”, though he nonetheless concluded that “Views isn’t a perfect album – some judicious pruning of the less impactful tracks would make it more easily digestible, and there are certainly moments when you start to wish Drake would cast his gaze a little further afield than his own navel.” Kitty Empire of The Observer noted the album’s “pin-sharp” lyrical and production detail.[42] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said the album “finds Drake a conqueror between territories: fending off attacks from below, maintaining his grip on turf he controls and wondering what might be next,” though noting that “his emotional excavations aren’t as striking as they were a few years ago, when they had the sting of the new to them.”

In a mixed review, Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club wrote that “Views can’t escape the sense that Drake’s done this before and done it better,” describing the album as “too long and stubbornly low energy, nowhere near the knockout Drake’s been building it up to be since practically before he began recording it.” In another mixed review of the album, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph said, “Views genuinely makes for mesmerising listening, even if much of the album seems to consists of lazy meanders through Drake’s psyche. Is it futile to wish someone so smart and talented would take his nose out of his own navel for long enough to say something about the exterior world?” Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that “for an artist so eager to entertain, so set on proving his superstar status in a fickle industry, he surprisingly doesn’t take any risks in order to do something truly different,” characterizing the album as featuring a “glaring lack of consistency in lyrics, song ideas, and good humor.” In a negative review for The Independent, Andy Gill described the album as “utterly wearying, and unpersuasive,” adding that “rarely has one man moaned quite so much about so little.” Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called the album “a snooze” and remarked that Drake was “not saying much new or surprising.”

In Drake’s home country of Canada, Views sold 110,000 equivalent album units, and sold 92,000 copies in its opening week.[46] In the United States, Views debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 1.04 million equivalent album units, selling 852,000 copies in its first week of release, and achieving over 245 million streams, more than previous record 115.2 million by Beyoncé. It is the biggest since Adele’s 25 collected 1.19 million units in its fifth week of release (week ending December 24, 2015). The last album by a male artist to post a bigger pure album sales week was Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience when it debuted with 968,000 copies sold in the week ending March 24, 2013. Views became Drake’s sixth consecutive number-one album (fifth as lead artist) on the Billboard 200 and largest sales week. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, with 78,000 sales, becoming Drake’s first number-one on that chart. In its second week, Views remained at number one on the Billboard 200, earning 313,000 units (down 70 percent) and selling 175,000 in traditional album sales (down 79 percent). Views remained at the top spot for four more weeks, and Drake joined Adele, Michael Buble, and Taylor Swift as the only artists in the 2010′s decade with six consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. Overall, Views has attained 1 billion streams in the United States, according to his record label. For the week ending May 21, 2016, 18 songs (bar “Summers Over Interlude” and “Hotline Bling”) on the album charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, marking a new record. On June 9, 2016, Views was a certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined album sales, on-demand audio, video streams, track-equivalent units of 2 million units.

SHARE: