Music
How to Listen to Drake's 'VIEWS'
Drake's "VIEWS" premieres tonight on Beats 1, drops tomorrow and then Drizzy goes on tour.
Drake
© Cambria Harkey
UPDATED April 28, 11:08 ET: Drake's "VIEWS" is now up on iTunes and is supposed to be available at midnight.
UPDATED April 28, 10:16 p.m. ET: It is now unclear whether Drake's "VIEWS" will premiere tonight on Beats 1. But at 7:45 p.m. PT/10:45 p.m. ET, Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe is supposed to interview Drake. Maybe the album will be premiered too.
Drake's "VIEWS" is here. Almost. It's out tomorrow, but you can listen to it tonight (April 28) during the global listening party at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET via OVO Sound's Beats 1 Radio show. Link below.
The world has been waiting for two years (depending on who you ask) for this new Drake album, which was previously titled "Views From the 6," "the 6" being a reference to Drake's hometown of Toronto. (The album cover art shows Drake perched atop the CN Tower, which is an important tower in Toronto.)
"VIEWS," out on Drake's OVO Sound label, features confirmed guest appearances by Kanye West and Jay Z (with rumored guest appearances from Rihanna, Future and Pimp C), and production from West, Boi-1da, Noah "40" Shebib, Majid Jordan, Beat Bully and Frank Dukes. It includes previously released singles "Pop Style" and "One Dance" (plus bonus track "Hotline Bling").
Here's the trailer, which Drake shared last night on Twitter.
"VIEWS" is the Grammy Award winning rapper's first "official" album since 2013's "Nothing Was the Same," but it comes soon after last year's mixtapes, "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" and (his Future collab) "What a Time to Be Alive." So it's kind of a big deal.
Word on the web is that it will not be for sale right away. Instead, it will be available to stream exclusively through Apple Music, for Apple Music subscribers only.
This is how the pop music world works now. Albums by pop stars contain this thing called music that you can hear with your ears, sure, but their albums are also vehicles for selling subscriptions to streaming services.
So, the big question: How in the heck are you even gonna hear "VIEWS"?
Tonight's Beat 1 Radio global listening party is the best way to start. It's important to get that first taste before everyone else, so you can get an early view of "VIEWS" and then make your friends and family jealous.
After the listening party stream, you may have to subscribe to Apple Music if you want to hear "VIEWS" again any time soon. Or you can wait for it to be available in physical form, which might happen. Or you can wait for it to be available as an iTunes DL. Or you can wait for it to be available on the other streaming services, which will inevitably happen, just like it did with Kanye West's "The Life of Pablo." You will have to be patient.
Another way to experience Drake and "VIEWS" is to go see his "Summer Sixteen" Tour with Future and OVO artists Roy Woods and DVSN. The tour kicks off July 20. See the dates below.