Her Loss is the long anticipated collaborative album by Drake and 21 Savage. Does it live up to the overwhelming hype?

Initially, the title Her Loss really threw me off. In my mind, Drake is extremely notorious for super cheesy album titles. Even though it’s a TikTok trend now, Honestly, Nevermind and Certified Lover Boy are so cringey to me. Despite this, I had high hopes going into my first listen of the long-awaited EP; Drake has made many classics, and 21 Savage recently rocked the world with his album Savage Mode II. 

The album starts off on a questionable foot. “Rich Flex” changes flows several times throughout three minutes. Honestly, it made me a little motion sick. It isn’t complimented by the next song “Major Distribution”  which has the most uncomfortable beat I have ever heard, repeating the same three chords over and over. When my sister and I first listened to this song she said, “This is a joke right? Like they’re just messing with us.” Unfortunately, I don’t think she was correct. The song keeps repeating the line “go stupid”. It’s just so embarrassing that 21 is quoting a TikTok trend that’s like two years old. It’s really revealing his millennial side. 

“On BS” was the most characteristic song so far. Although 21 kept repeating, “on that BS”, I was just thankful it wasn’t quoting a Vine. I realized around this point that I much prefer when Drake is singing and 21 is rapping. Drake’s rapping just doesn’t do the trick for me; I think that’s why a lot of his old music is more popular. 

Another painful title, “BackOutsideBoyz”, sounded just like the title looks: goofy. I also thought it was weird that Drake thought this was good enough to go on solo. The album was partly redeemed by “Privileged Rapper”. It seems to have the first partially meaningful lyrics. 21’s flow on this was much more natural. But then he started talking about emojis. He is so corny, but like in the best way possible. The combination of a Drake chorus with 21 verses is the best dynamic. 

Taking a wild turn, “Spin Bout You” was actually fantastic. This was definitely one of my favorites on the album. 21 starts off with questionable romantic statements (he also mentions a “Finsta”), and Drake follows with a classic heartthrob chorus. ‘“Crusty, Musty, Dusty, Rusty” is my favorite lyric in the song. “Hours in Silence” follows with a pretty good vibe. The kind of vintage sample background adds to the chill ambiance “Spin Bout You” created. These songs were a nice contrast to the wild previous songs. 

I cannot believe these great songs were followed by “Treacherous Twin” which sounds exactly like a Dubsmash sound from 2016. Even though it’s objectively bad, I kind of liked it. Whatever “Circo Loco” sounded like is irrelevant, after Drake’s idiotic diss to Megan Thee Stallion. He claimed that she lied about being shot by Tory Lanez for no apparent reason. 

After that messy situation, Drake and 21 hop on “***** and Millions”. Despite the vulgar title, I think this song is another winner. It has such a nice background with 21’s classic flow. Travis Scott makes the only feature appearance on the album. I was very surprised when I heard him, especially when the beat immediately changed. Honestly, I would expect nothing less than that from Travis. “Broke Boys” seems pretty irrelevant. It sounds like there is a fire alarm going off in the background. It’s just not good. 

“Middle of the Ocean” was pleasant, but didn’t stand out to me. It’s getting added to my playlist, but it might take several listens before I’ve fully processed it. “Jumbo **** Poppin” was another stupid title with crazy and absurd lyrics. It actually kind of freaked me out. 

Wrapping up, “More M’s” was also just bad. It also sounded like a Halloween song. 21 mentions some really odd things like Wells Fargo and Skims. “3AM” was pretty good. This is the only 21 exclusive song on the album. As long as you don’t listen too close to the lyrics, he is really one of the greatest rappers of all time. Finally, “I Guess it’s **** Me” was interesting. I liked it, but it wasn’t my favorite. It was actually pretty emotional, unlike most of the other songs.

Overall, I think this album is confusing, there are many terrible songs and many fantastic songs. However, I would definitely recommend Savage Mode II and Views over Her Loss.