Is More Life an Album or Playlist?

#Album // Jun Lee

In this modern day and age, society needs to attach labels on numerous things to understand them. Music is no exception: Despite the comprehensive and blend of genres and styles, music has constantly evolved as a subjective field.

In a world without absolutes, set definitions cannot exist. This even includes definitions in the music industry, which uses categorizations such as EPs, singles, or albums for its own convenience and understanding. The broadest description of an album is a collection of recordings issued as a single item. That doesn’t mean an album needs to fit within these terms indefinitely. Indeed, other musical terms such as “mixtape” and “single” have also transformed throughout cultural history.

Drake’s attempt to invent a new category of release doesn’t make More Life any more different from an album. It’s undeniable that new terms are invented for new creations just as much as old terms adapt to their new environments. However, Drake himself is unable to verbally differentiate between a playlist and an album, and his vague suggestion that a playlist is “a collection of songs that become the soundtrack to your life” isn’t helpful either.

So what’s Drake’s motive for releasing a playlist instead of an album? Obviously this is clearly creativity for the sake of business, not only to provide something fresh to his fans but also to raise hype about his latest release. Fans may debate over semantics, but More Life will sell regardless of its classification. Ultimately, that’s what Drake cares about most. So let’s just call it an album.

#Playlist // Ashley Bauler

More Life by Drake, is a phenomenal compilation of songs. Without a consistent theme, the collection of tracks is a beautiful mish mash of musical occurrences that happened to be compiled by Drake and featuring a diverse range of different artists.

When listening to the playlist it is clear that from one track to the next there is random transition of thought. The listener takes in the song “Skepta Interlude” and then moves to “Portland,” there is no common denominator between the two besides that the songs are ragetastic, just like any playlist someone makes. There seems to be even several different genres featured on “My Life” further expanding the span of genres available on the collection.

The song “KMT” is raw and sounds aggressive and then the next song “Lose You” is a monologue-ridden song that is more poetic and emotional than the prior. The range in emotion and tone make it a clear example of a playlist.

The fact that Drake has created a work of musical art that is being questioned as an album or playlist, shows his immense musical talent. For someone to be able to create music that is completely random, but perfect at the same time is visionary. Each song is curated to be completely different, and there has yet to be an album yet that does this so eloquently.