Just months after the release of his divisive album, “Honestly, Nevermind,” Drake has released a brand new project with co-superstar rapper, 21 Savage (21), entitled “Her Loss.” After “Honestly, Nevermind” strayed from Drake’s usual formula of trap bangers mixed with sad-boy love ballads, many hip-hop listeners were interested to hear what the popular artist would bring next.

And while Drake does indeed return to some beloved sounds from earlier in his discography in “Her Loss,” the quality at which he does so is highly questionable. 

The album begins with an attempted hard-hitting banger, as hinted at with the title, “Rich Flex.” After a brief intro of Drake attempting to hype him up, 21 begins his contributions to the project with the incredibly rudimentary rhyme scheme of, “lot… shot… lot… plot,” which makes for an appropriately disappointing verse to set the tone for the rest of the song. Drake later comes in with his tough guy persona, doing his best to sound intimidating in spite of his origins as a child actor for Nickelodeon. 

Things remain similarly bland, sleepy and forgettable with the next two tracks, “Major Distribution” and “On BS.” Both songs feature similarly lifeless production, as well as some of Drake’s worst choruses to date. Specifically on the former, the refrain of, “okay, go stupid, go stupid, go stupid, go stupid…” brings zero energy and becomes tired almost instantly. 

Drake finally hits his listeners with an attempt at a catchy hook on “BackOutsideBoyz.” And while the track is bogged down by some embarrassing lyrics from Drake, as well as nothing to write home about in terms of flow from either rapper, the beat is relatively lively and does a good job of raising the album’s energy before it’s too late. 

This energy is soon lost, however, with the track “Privileged Rappers.” Drake hits listeners with his most comatose verse yet, sounding as if he recorded at the end of a 48-hour studio session. This is all capped off with what sounds like an unmixed 21 Savage verse, as well as a clunky and awkwardly-worded chorus. 

Things get even worse with the track “Hours in Silence.” After a boring yet tolerable two minutes of Drake and 21 trading verses, things reach their absolute lowest during the final four-and-a-half minutes of this excruciatingly long track. Nearly all of this space is filled with Drake seemingly riffing whiny bars about a relationship gone poorly, while lacking any sort of melody or rhythm and being soaked disgustingly in autotune. 

But, if listeners do somehow make it through that track, they’ll be met with a reasonably enjoyable experience for the rest of the album’s run time. The tracks “Broke Boys” and “Middle of the Ocean” each feature a beat with some personality, and are decently interesting throughout. Even the track “Circo Loco,” in spite of a pretty weak flip of Daft Punk’s “One More Time” and Drake’s distasteful lyrics about Megan Thee Stallion, is a fun enough, lively experience. 

Additionally, the song “Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin” sees Drake riding over a F1LTHY beat, and fittingly providing his best Playboi Carti impression. And while he’s a 36-year-old man spitting lyrics about his “slime,” it’s a nice change of pace in an otherwise one-dimensional project. 

The album closes with both 21 and Drake providing individual tracks. On “3AM on Glenwood,” 21 delivers a heartfelt lyrical tribute to a deceased friend over a beat that provides him the space to be heard. 

However, Drake fails to follow up this song with anything meaningful. “I Guess It’s F*** Me” serves the sole purpose of allowing Drake to whine about his partner — or perhaps ex partner — for four minutes straight over a forgettable instrumental that feels like it’s been heard several times on this album already. 

While there may not be many of Drake’s career-worst songs on here, even the highlights are pretty middlebrow. Even 21 Savage, an artist who has shown some promise with his recent releases, sounds more uninspired than ever during his minimal time in the limelight. 

So, while being an improvement on some of his recent output, “Her Loss” continues Drake’s streak of sub-par albums that is coming up on a decade long.

Overall Score: 4/10

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