Music

Everyone Is Dunking On Drake For His Bizarre Emoji Album Cover

Sir, what is this?

by Joseph Earp  31 August 2021
Drake 'Certified Lover Boy' album art

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Hot on the heels of the release of Donda, Drake, that longtime foe of Kanye West has announced the release of his new record Certified Lover Boy.

It’s been three long years since we last heard from the Canadian rapper — his album Scorpion came out back in 2018. A powerful work of self-mythology, the album became a smash commercial — if not critical — hit. But critics be damned, the thing has a subtle charm entirely of its own, moving away from the sensitive Drake of the past, and embracing a harder-edged, more vicious sound.

Precious little is actually known about Certified Lover Boy at this stage; there hasn’t even been a lead single yet released, making it something of a surprise album drop.

What we do know, however, is what the cover is going to be. And boy howdy is it wild.

I mean, just look at this thing:

The cover art, which depicts 12 “pregnant woman” emojis, was designed by British artist Damien Hirst. Hirst is known for his stripped-back, pop-inspired aesthetic; he’s the man behind those super elegant, “how are these art?” spot paintings.

Indeed, the album cover resembles the spot paintings in its simplicity and its use of bold, primary colours — there’s a minimalism to the image that is distinctly Hirst.

Hirst is no stranger to controversy, either. He outsources much of the art-making in his process to employees, and, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, laid off 63 of his workers while claiming money from the government. In fact, Hirst is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the multi-media artist Loafgreen, who printed a pair of Crocs with Hirst’s iconic spots as a comment on the “relationship between capitalism and the commodification of art.”

Since the album cover was released, internet sleuths have decided that there’s also a distinct subtext to the image — they reckon that it’s a comment on the fact that Certified Lover Boy has been gestating for nine months.

For the most part, the reaction to the cover art has been distinctly mixed, with Drake becoming meme fodder hours after it was posted.

But here’s the thing: the cover art is fun. It’s a far cry from Drake’s moody, gurning cover images of the past; it’s freer, and distinctly more modern. Whether or not that represents a change to the rapper’s sound will have to be seen.

Certified Lover Boy drops this Friday September 4.