It feels like forever since Drake last released a solo studio album. Certified Lover Boy, which is set to drop soon, will be the Toronto rapper’s sixth official album and the first since 2018’s Scorpion. Drizzy has managed to keep fans well-fed as he worked on the upcoming album, re-releasing his breakthrough tape So Far Gone to streaming platforms in summer 2019, as well as Care Package, which included tons of songs previously unavailable for commercial streaming.
May’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes, released as a “warm-up” to CLB, saw Drake experimenting with new producers and production, drawing influence from UK drill, Soundcloud rap, and R&B music. Seeing as the mixtape served as a taste-test for Certified Lover Boy, we can probably expect some more of the same type of influences and production on the new album.
As the world awaits Drake’s highly anticipated Certified Lover Boy drop, it's hard to know exactly what the secretive OVO star has up his sleeve. Here is a guide to everything we've culled so far about the upcoming project.
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It was originally slated for a released this summer.
Along with the release of the first single from the album, “Laugh Now Cry Later” featuring Lil Durk, Drake announced the name of the upcoming album to his social media accounts on Friday, August 14th. “Laugh Now Cry Later off my next studio album CERTIFIED LOVER BOY,” he captioned the post.
He also told fans back in May with the release of Dark Lane Demo Tapes to expect the album to arrive sometime in summer 2020-- aka any day now. Fingers crossed.
He attempted to copyright the title of the album back in February.
Months ahead of the album release, it looks like Drake did attempt to become the certified lover boy. According to Complex, Drake’s attorney tried to file a trademark for the term “Certified Lover Boy,” however the application was rejected to avoid any “confusion” with the Canadian rock band Loverboy and a clothing brand based out of Michigan titled Lover’s Lane. Sorry, Drizzy.
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The album is about “90 percent” done.
OVO sound engineer Noel Cadastre celebrated his birthday at the end of July and revealed that Drake is 90 percent done with his upcoming album. “Studio for my bday…” Cadastre captioned the post shared about 2 weeks ago. “we 90% but y’all gonna have to wait on that last 10% ”
The tracklist will be shorter than Scorpion and may feature collaborations with Roddy Ricch and Lil Wayne.
Drake plans to make the album’s run time a bit shorter than Scorpion. “Album’s on the way, ’bout to slap head tops off,” he said last month at a Toronto Raptors game while revealing that the project will be shorter than Scorpion, which had 25 songs. “This album, I’ll probably make it a more realistic offering, something more concise,” he explained. "Anywhere, whatever you want, it can be 10, 11, 16. I also do a lot of different types of music so it's tough to make it like a seven-song album or something like that. Yea, I'm having a lot of fun right now making music."
Songs that may be among the shorter offering include a collaboration with Roddy Ricch the OVO head honcho teased last month on Instagram Live titled “In the Cut.” Additionally, back in May when Drake appeared on Lil Wayne’s Young Money Radio, the rapper promised to work with Weezy on new music in the near future, which could very well be on this project. As always, a couple of unreleased Champagne Papi songs have leaked ahead of the album’s drop including an unfinished track called “Intoxicated” and another titled “Lie to Me,” but it’s no telling what Drake will decide to do with the cuts.
Are you excited for the arrival of Certified Lover Boy? Let us know in the comments.