Drake — Maid of Honour

May 15

While Icemanwas the main event announced beforehand, it wasn’t the end of the story. Maid of Honour is the second of three LPs the Canadian artist released on May 15th via OVO/Republic/UMG — and where the first was already uninspired, this one dips even lower.

If the main thing holding back the main LP of the trilogy was its content, the number one issue with Maid of Honour is the almost total lack thereof. It’s difficult to find any real merit when it comes to this record, even when comparing it with previous projects among Drake’s weak recent output. Where Iceman, for example, packs plenty of second-hand embarrassment, it at least feels intentional, like there’s some actual feeling behind it (even if that feeling isn’t particularly likeable or compelling); this project feels closest to last year’s $ome $exy $ongs 4U project — hollow, soulless tracks with certain segments blatantly created to try and go viral on social media, and instrumentals crafted for the late hours of the night at clubs, when nobody is sober or awake enough to pay attention beyond the rhythms. And, among those rhythms, Drake continues to insist on an incredibly unnecessary amount of beat switches on this project, just like on Iceman before it — but, repeated so many times, the novelty and engagement of a change mid-instrumental completely wears off, and just becomes annoying.

Another thing that carries over from the rest of Drake’s recent discography is the lackluster lyricism — it’s even more empty here, with most tracks sticking to familiar themes of women, parties and general toxicity, and it has no shortage of facepalm-inducing lines (“I need a bad bitch to come take my innocence”, “Or it's jokes on me like the first day of April”, “Why do you always save all these shots of your screen, are you a goalie?” and many more). There are also a few pretty inexplicable and random interpolations, like when Sexyy Red references DJ Casper’s “Cha-Cha Slide” during her typically uninspired feature on “Cheetah Print”, when Central Cee makes a nod to the Spice Girls’ hit “Wannabe” on the single “Which One”, or when Drake himself briefly calls back to Rihanna’s “Work” on the same track. It all feels incredibly lazy and rushed, aiming to find that one moment that will keep Drake’s name near the top of the charts for the coming weeks or even months.

There is one thing that Drake brings to the table on this record that isn’t present on the other two accompanying ones, though — his bizarre love for accents and lingo that he wouldn’t normally use in day-to-day conversation. “New Bestie” is the worst offender when it comes to this, with the verse in the second half of the track all delivered in Drake’s typical awkward Patois; but there are plenty of other tracks where something similar occurs.

Overall, Maid of Honour is a drab, spiritless record, an empty husk of a project that is as danceable as it is entirely unfulfilling. It perfectly encapsulates another negative side of the artist Drake is today — careless chart-chasing without regard for anything that lies below the surface. And the shine of the wrapping around the bland product has essentially completely worn off by this point.

3.0/10

MUSIC