Drake‘s new album VIEWS (previously titled Views From the 6) has been one of the most anticipated albums of 2016, so drop everything you’re doing and go ahead and stream the Canadian rapper’s fourth studio effort right now.
Given Drake‘s huge endorsement deal with Apple Music, and the recent trend of new albums releasing exclusively on one streaming service or the other, it was expected from the get-go that VIEWS would stream exclusively on Apple Music. And we were right. The rapper streamed his album for the first time on Beats 1 Radio on Apple Music.
Update: Actually, the album released on iTunes first. OVO Radio (the Beats 1 Radio special) hasn’t even played it yet.
According to Billboard, his mixtape If You’re Reading This Its Too Late was the top-selling album released in 2015. And that was a mixtape released without any fanfare or advance promo. Now imagine what he can do with over a year’s worth of time.
Since October’s Very Own never announced an official release date other than “April,” we’ve been on our toes waiting for it to drop. It’s a situation very similar to Kanye’s The Life of Pablo. The big difference compared to TLOP is that unlike Yeezus, Drake never promised to release his album on a certain date. But that hasn’t kept Drake’s fans from waiting impatiently.
As far as what to expect from VIEWS, Noah “40” Shebib (one of Drake’s closest friends and collaborators) has said this about VIEWS: “It’s going to be what everybody expects and wants from Drake and from us. A lot of introspection, very vivid. He’s discovering new flows, new cadences, new patterns.”
Download VIEWS
VIEWS is available to download on iTunes right now. Download VIEWS on iTunes here. We suggest doing that.
Stream VIEWS
Update: You can actually stream VIEWS on Apple Music. If you’re logged into Apple Music, head to this link and press play.
The only place to stream VIEWS right now is to listen to via Apple Music. Obviously you’ve got to have an Apple Music account.
VIEWS Track List
Drake released the track list for VIEWS on Wednesday night, a day before his live stream on Beats 1 Radio
1. Keep The Family Close
2. 9
3. U With Me?
4. Feel No Ways
5. Hype
6. Weston Road Flows
7. Redemption
8. With You
9. Faithful
10. Still Here
11. Controlla
12. One Dance
13. Grammys
14. Childs Play
15. Pop Style
16. Too Good
17. Summers Over Interlude
18. Fire and Desire
19. Views
20. Hotline Bling (Bonus)
Update–4/28/2016: Noah “40” Shebib just posted the full tracklist with production credits.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEwzkBPu3qV/
VIEWS Album Cover
Drake posted the album art to VIEWS on Twitter on Sunday night to get everyone hyped for the big release.
To the city I love and the people in it…Thank you for everything #VIEWS pic.twitter.com/HEXHNwrWwd
— Drizzy (@Drake) April 25, 2016
VIEWS Leaks
It should come as no surprise that in this day in age such an anticipated and publicized album like Views From the 6 would have a couple of leaks. That being said, a total of three songs hit the web before VFt6 became fully available.
First came “Controlla” and “These Days”–two songs that were quite different that showed possible directions Drake could be going. “Controlla” featured the artist Popcaan, a Jamaican dancehall singer, who is rumored to also be on another Views From the 6 single.
A week later (on April Fool’s Day) “Faithful” dropped, a song featuring Drake and the late great Pimp C.
VIEWS Photos
Drake and his October’s Very Own team have been marketing the hell out of VIEWS since last year. In addition to paying for billboards around Toronto, they’ve been posting photos from the recording studio to Instagram. Check those out below.
