Canadian rapper and pop culture icon Drake’s new album, For All the Dogs, had been highly anticipated by all his fans for most of 2023.  After many weeks of pushing its release date back, OVO Sound and Republic Records finally released it in full on October 6.  The Double LP contains a total of twenty-three songs and runs for one hour and twenty-five minutes.  On this new record, Drake brings in many special guests: 21 Savage, J. Cole, SZA, and Yeat, to name just a few.

Heading into the third week since its release, there has been a mix of opinions on For All the Dogs from many Drake fans, and with the relevance of this album today and our love for Drake, we feel qualified to honestly review this album.  From the numerous features to the “old Drake” style to the album cover (created by his son, Adonis), we personally love this album.  We decided to dive a little deeper and rank each song based on its melody, lyrics, structure, production, danceability, relevance, and overall “Drake quality,” rating each song out of 70 points.  Below, you will find our thoughts. 

But before we go into our official rankings, we wanted to tell you about the one large disagreement regarding “Calling for You (feat. 21 Savage).”  Since we could not agree on a common position in our rankings, we each provided our own take on the song.

23. Calling For You (feat. 21 Savage) – Elaina’s Version:

Drake’s part in the beginning was pretty okay.  It’s a relevant song since it includes a verse from 21 Savage.  The part where the girl is complaining about not being in first class is entirely unnecessary.  Skip over that to hear the KING, 21 Savage, and you have a really good song. 

23. Calling For You (feat. 21 Savage) – Jason’s Version:

It was just awful.  It made me feel uncomfortable.  I really couldn’t wait for the song to end.  Although the lyrics were decent, the actual structure of the song and how it blared in my ears like a siren the whole time made me dislike it even more.  As Elaina already said (and with this, I happen to agree), the “First Class Girl” was entirely unnecessary and annoying.  It was the rotten cherry on top of an already bad song.

22. All The Parties (feat. Chief Keef)

The vibe and beat of this song are pretty good.  There’s nothing too memorable about this song, so that’s why Elaina ranked it last.  (Jason ranked “Calling For You” behind this, obviously). 

21. Members Only (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR)

The song is slower and has more of an R&B style.  We like the PARTYNEXTDOOR feature, though it is kind of boring.  Similar to “All The Parties,” it’s also not very memorable.  We gave this song and “All The Parties” pretty much the same scores. 

20. Screw The World – Interlude

The beat is new and unique in the best way.  The only thing about this song is we have no idea what is being said.  The beat is almost louder than the lyrics. 

19. Away from Home

This is a pretty decent song but it isn’t very relevant.  We feel as if it was just one musical thought.  It didn’t go anywhere.  It scored middle-of-the-range in terms of points across the board.

18. Tried Our Best

This song was also pretty slow and had more of an R&B feel, but the lyrics and wordplay were a 10/10.  We don’t think it is very danceable or relevant enough in its context to score higher, but we would call this song an underrated gem.

17. Daylight

The sparkly instrumentals of this song are well-executed, but we feel as if it was not physically placed well on the album, as the preceding song, “Fear of Heights,” sounds almost the same.  “Daylight” is just a watered-down version of “Fear of Heights.”  Its only calling card is the feature from Drake’s six-year-old son, Adonis.  “Daylight” is not a bad song, but we think spacing out “Daylight” and “Fear of Heights” on the album would have made more sense.

16. IDGAF (feat. Yeat)

Yeat carried Drake on his own song.  The beat and lyrics are a 10/10, especially the often-made-fun-of “Money for fun” line.  The jazzy space sounds that take over the first minute of the song make us feel like we’re levitating, but Drake pulls us back to the ground super fast when the beat starts.  

15. Drew A Picasso

“OOO I like it, Picasso.”  Well, not really.  This song honestly does not fit the album.  The lyrics are quite depressing, especially the line where Drake says, “I can’t picture you with him… I want to die, to die.”  That threw us for a loop.  However, we do have to appreciate Drake’s introspection on this track and many others he’s released throughout his career, as he has implicitly shared much of his personal life through his lyrics. 

14. Gently (feat. Bad Bunny)

To be completely honest, we would have never seen this feature coming…like, ever.  This song has the reggaetón-influenced and Bad Bunny-trademarked Latin groove, making it sound a little bit like Bad Bunny’s 2022 megahit, “Tití Me Preguntó.”  Elaina has no comments on this song except for “Yo, Bad Bunny.  Hit me up ;)” 

13. Amen (feat. Teezo Touchdown)

This track has a different feel to it because it is written in 3/4 time.  Nonetheless, it’s very chill and well-produced, which is why it’s Elaina’s favorite.  It’s like listening to Drake, but not in the hard rap sense.  This song was a nice break.

12. BBL Love – Interlude

We like the melody of this interlude but the lyrics… mmm no thanks.  The two interludes were overall very average in this album, but we liked this one better because the solo guitar in the background is easy on the ears.  And one last thing, Drake is too old to be giving any of his songs a title like this.

11. 7969 Santa

This one is also an underrated song in our opinion.  We haven’t heard many people talking about this one, but the lyrics and ethereal beat of the song are really easy to get into. 

10. Slime You Out (feat. SZA)

We thought Drake and SZA hadn’t been on good terms since their breakup in 2008.  Awkward.  Regardless, this was a great PR stunt though because their song climbed to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.  Although, we’re not sure why, since it is a pretty slow song.  Sadly, we feel like TikTok has taken over this song.  It was good, new material the first week it was dropped, but now it is overplayed.  Elaina can’t scroll through TikTok for more than fifteen minutes without seeing a random girl lip-syncing this song.  The part when Drake recites the months of the year is “pretty fire” and SZA was amazing as always.  Our favorite lyric: “October is all about me cause your turn shoulda been over.” 

“SZA can do no wrong in my eyes.”  – Elaina 

9. Another Late Night (feat. Lil Yachty)

This song had a similar monotony to it like “Away From Home.”  However, the lyrics and flow combined with Lil Yachty’s masterful production helped it to rank higher on our list.

8. Polar Opposites

This was a good way to close out the album.  We liked the lyrics of this song about relationships.  Our only drawback is that Drake sings way too much here.  It’s not very pleasant when he does that.

7. Bahamas Promises

We don’t know what happened in this song.  It was a little too slow for a record that was all about celebration.  It is one of the better songs on the album, structurally and lyrically, but it fails to rank higher just because it does not fit the vibe of this album.

6. 8am in Charlotte

Drake is famous for his timestamp songs, and this new track is a great addition to his collection.  Both of us agreed this song models Drake’s old style from when he was new on the hip-hop scene back in the late 2000s…and we LOVE it.  Once we get to know this song better, I’m sure it will move up in our rankings.  Like “Daylight,” we don’t like the placement of this song in the album.  This song should have been towards the beginning of the album because maybe we would remember to listen to it more. 

5. Fear of Heights

The beginning line of this song is FIRE, after which, Drake croons, “Lemme stop.  Nah lemme go.” and the song subsequently speeds up.  Drake didn’t lie!  Although we like the lyrics of the rest of the song, the beginning is a diss at Rihanna, which we didn’t appreciate.

“I love Drake, but please no hate for my girl RiRi.” – Elaina

4. Virginia Beach

We both agreed that “Virginia Beach” is a decent song with which to open the album, but we wish it was a bit faster.  To be completely honest, it doesn’t set the bar very high for the album.  It boasts a similar tempo to “Amen,” so it flows in that aspect.  But when you reach the 21 Savage feature, it’s a completely different vibe.  Favorite lyric: “I coulda treated you better, that’s crazy.  NOPE!”

3. Rich Baby Daddy (feat. Sexyy Red & SZA)

Someone on TikTok will find a way to dance to this, and Elaina is not excited about this trend.  SZA carried with her verse, as she tends to do so everywhere she ends up.  St. Louis’s newest hip-hop sensation, Sexxy Red, also appeared in a feature, but her contribution to the song = no.  Here’s a hot take: Sexxy Red’s singles are way better than her features.  Jason initially didn’t like this song mainly because of Sexxy Red’s constant presence, but it grew to be his favorite of all, mainly just because he learned to laugh and not take the song as seriously as the others.  Either way, we know it will develop into a truly iconic song.

2. First Person Shooter (feat. J. Cole)

J. Cole and Drake make a dynamic duo—no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  It’s just a fact, sorry.  This feature is iconic.  We have no complaints about this song.  It is just that good.  It sounded like a certified Drake song from the minute it started playing.  We ranked this song very highly on all counts.

1. What Would Pluto Do

Finally!  We’ve reached our number one pick.  We thought that “What Would Pluto Do” perfectly embodied everything that makes a Drake song special.  We thought the backing track was perfect on this song.  It had a nice and relaxed keyboard riff.  It’s pretty danceable, and it seems to be popular and relevant among those who have approached us when they found out that we were writing this article.  Drake sings but doesn’t yell to the point that he diminishes the obvious rap focus of the track.  This is overall a great song that combines elements of Drake’s old style with elements of his artistic growth today.

Tell us, what did you think of For All the Dogs?