Drake accepts the award for Best Rap Song during the 61st Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2019. – Photo: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
To call Drake's Certified Lover Boy a flop, as many have since the album came out in September, is to say more about the hip-hop superstar's overall success than about the perceived failure of a Grammy-nominated LP that broke several streaming records on its way to finishing 2021 as last year's third-biggest release.
But OK, sure: Unlike pretty much everything Drake had done since the start of his major-label recording career more than a decade ago, the meandering Certified Lover Boy fell slightly out of sync with the pop culture zeitgeist. The album didn't spin off a series of durable radio hits (though Way 2 Sexy went to No. 1) nor did the music take over TikTok and social media in the manner of a modern smash. For perhaps the first time, Drake's grip seemed to slip.
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Summary:
An undeniable change in course
