Drake has simultaneously released three albums—Iceman, Maid of Honour, and Habibti—totaling 43 tracks and over two and a half hours of music. While the move may excite die-hard fans, for most listeners, it feels like a bloated, boring disaster.
A Perplexing Strategy
Drake, still the world's most-streamed rapper, has faced recent controversies: losing a high-profile rap beef, legal battles with his record label, and lawsuits over gambling livestreams. Yet his popularity remains strong, with his last album selling a million copies. Instead of releasing a single hit to restore his reputation, he chose to drop three albums at once.
Bright Spots on Iceman
The only album with notable highlights is Iceman. Tracks like Ran to Atlanta feature superb production with menacing electronics. Burning Bridges deftly switches between jazzy piano and ghostly R&B. National Treasures transforms from eerie synths to a nightmarish blend of sampled voices and industrial rhythm. These songs create a desolate atmosphere that undercuts Drake's defiant lyrics about wealth and feuds.
However, these moments are surrounded by filler. Janice STFU lazily interpolates a Lykke Li chorus, while B's on the Table features a bored-sounding 21 Savage. Little Birdie and Don't Worry feel undernourished despite heavy vocal effects. Clunky lyrics like “I feel like BTS 'cause it took the whole career for me to be so discovered” and shout-outs to Adin Ross further drag down the album.
The Other Two Albums
Maid of Honour leans into dancefloor sounds, sampling Peggy Gou's house hit and DJ Caspar's Cha Cha Slide. Habibti focuses on R&B but lacks memorable hooks or melodies. Both albums feel like retreads of old tropes—loneliness in a big house, grudges—as if generated by AI. Maid of Honour has decent sounds (distorted synth, mid-80s funk, electro pastiche) but no strong tunes. It also features Drake's infamous Jamaican accent.
A Scrappy Enterprise
The project ends with Princess, a half-formed mess of distorted guitar and Auto-Tune. Overall, the three-album set feels poorly thought out. Drake boasts about not featuring guests, yet the albums are full of them. The minute-long Rusty Intro is tuneless acoustic guitar rambling. This content dump could be a strategy to fulfill his record contract, similar to Prince's deliberate substandard releases in the 1990s. Drake raps about wanting independence, but this bloated project risks alienating all but his most devoted fans.
