Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: Drake,  what to say about Drake. The Canadian rapper and singer has been one of the biggest stars in music for well over a decade. But in case you're living under a rock, you probably know that he's coming off of one of the biggest defeats of his entire career in a beef with Kendrick Lamar that just resulted in an instantly iconic Super Bowl performance. Of course, Drake doesn't fall like the rest of us. The beef spawned multiple huge hit songs for him as well and he's continued successfully touring the entire time, but he just released his first new music since the beef concluded, a Valentine's Day record in collaboration with label mate PartyNextDoor.  If you're approaching $ome $exy $ongs 4 U  hoping for a the next cultural development in Drake's arc you're going to be disappointed. Save for a few passing mentions the album largely exists outside that sphere, focusing mainly on returning to a similar kind of songwriting about rich ...

I love R&B and I've already covered a few releases in the genre this year. But I wanted to catch up with some of the records that fell through the cracks, especially those from artists I've enjoyed in the past.  u made me a st4r  - 4batz Earlier this year a TikTok about videos that don't match the energy of the song they're for launched R&B singer 4batz to virality. While that was built around the smash hit date @ 8 , which I admittedly love, it resulted in some major cosigns for the singer from artists like Drake and Kanye West. He capitalized on the rise to fame with this short project and going into it I was mostly just curious if he would be able to break the mold of his single hit so far. date @ 8  is great with its earworm refrains and pitched-up vocals, but that wasn't going to work for a full 8 songs broken up by a few sparse interludes.  The third single from the album actually served up a potentially interesting scenario. on god?  is a decent t...

Drake needs no introduction, come on guys. Review by Lav:  Drake hate is so corny in 2023. Much like every single new album cycle people who probably didn't listen to For All The Dogs  came out of their caves to bash it relentlessly. Thankfully this is so routine at this point that the tactic gets easier and easier to ignore every time. The best I can do to contribute to the discourse is actually try and digest the material he's releasing and give an honest reflection about it. As if it wasn't already the most obvious thing on earth, the truth about the album lies somewhere in between Drake's devoted haters and his biggest fans. I won't break down every single moment of For All The Dogs  as like many Drake albums it is TOO long. Drake is limited artistically and his songwriting lacks the scope and ambition to make an 80-minute album feel fresh throughout. I think he realizes that because this album is absolutely stacked with talented collaborators. Normally that h...

dvsn is the Canadian R&B project spearheaded by vocalist Daniel Daley and producer Ninteen85. The group is signed to Drake affiliate OVO records out of Toronto and first tunred heads in 2016 with their debut record Sept 5th . After a quick 2017 follow-up the duo is back with their longest record yet, sandwiched between two other major OVO releases from Partynextdoor and Drake.  Review By Lavender: I was one of the people interested in dvsn's debut record. Despite the fact that it was definitely flawed and contained some underwhelming songwriting there were things about the group that struck me and I saw them as a pair to watch going forward. The quick turnaround into their second record impressed me even less and going into their longest project yet at 56 minutes and 16 tracks I was hoping they had something more significant in store. Unfortunately Muse  turned out to be packed full of the bands weakest songs yet as they try to stumble through moody R&B instrumentals w...

PARTYNEXTDOOR is the moniker of Jahron Brathwaite a Canadian R&B singer who has been attached to Drake's OVO label since 2013. This is his third studio album on the label and has also released a number of EP's that are just as essential to his discography as the albums. It's been four years since we least heard a studio album from PND making this record a highly anticipated one for fans and critics alike. Review By Lavender: I've been around the music of Partynextdoor since he first emerged on the back of his self-titled EP in 2013 and I've been underwhelmed by much more of his catalog than I haven't. Pretty much the entire reason I have stuck around so closely is PND's 2014 debut studio album Partynextdoor 2 , a moody, sultry and gorgeous contemporary R&B album that I wasn't prepared for at the time it first released. The record was refreshing and catchy throughout and had me excited for what he would do next, but since then I haven't...

1. PARTYNEXTDOOR - The News After a long absence of studio material and mostly silence on the social front from PND he has emerged with two new singles, hopefully on the way towards new material.  2. XXXTENTACION - bad vibes forever (Feat. PnB Rock & Trippie Redd) Even a year and a half after his death Jahseh is still turning heads wherever his name emerges and grabbing some contemporary trap stars to join in on posthumous material it seems the well of X's music isn't quite dried up yet. 3. Marilyn Manson - The End Marilyn Manson made headlines recently for performing at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival but he has emerged with a second cover in the last few weeks, this time of The Doors classic The End . Certainly an intriguing prospect released at a good time with his name already in the headlines. 4. Destroyer - It Just Doesn't Happen Destroyer dropped a second single after a return to form first release and is coming around with a second single on his...