Honestly, Nevermind
Honestly, Nevermind is the seventh studio album by Canadian rapper Drake, which was surprise-released on June 17, 2022, through OVO Sound and Republic Records. The album includes a sole guest feature from 21 Savage, and production from a variety of producers, including Gordo, Black Coffee, and frequent collaborator 40. It is the second part of what Drake described as a "trilogy of albums", following Certified Lover Boy (2021) and Her Loss (2022).
A stylistic departure from Drake's previous releases, Honestly, Nevermind adopts a dance, house and Baltimore club sound. The album received generally positive reviews and debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 204,000 album-equivalent units, becoming Drake's eleventh US number-one album. The album's singles, "Sticky" and "Massive", debuted in the top 20 in the US Billboard Hot 100, while "Jimmy Cooks" became Drake's eleventh (and 21 Savage's second) US number-one song.
Background and promotion[edit]
On March 4, 2021, Drake announced the launch of satellite radio channel Sound 42 on Sirius XM, with OVO Sound Radio as its flagship program, marking the show's return since it aired between July 2015 and October 2018 on streaming service Apple Music.[1] Following the show's broadcast, he released his fourth extended play Scary Hours 2 at midnight. Drake also revealed that his sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy would be coming soon,[2] which was eventually released on September 3.[3]
On the afternoon of June 16, 2022, OVO Sound announced on Twitter that Drake would be premiering his own radio show Table For One on Sound 42 later that night at 11:00 PM EST.[4] A few hours later, Drake made a surprise announcement on Instagram that he would be releasing his seventh studio album, Honestly, Nevermind, later that midnight.[5][6] Broadcasting not long after Game Six of the 2022 NBA Finals earlier that night, Drake premiered the tracks "Confusion" and "I Could Never" on the show.[7] Drake also revealed during the show that he was working on Scary Hours 3.[8]
The album is dedicated to American fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who died in 2021.[9][10] A music video for "Falling Back" was released alongside the album.[11][12] Directed by Director X, the official music video sees Drake marrying 23 different women. Canadian-American professional basketball player Tristan Thompson makes an appearance as his best man.[10][13]
The album's only feature, 21 Savage, appears on the closing track of the album, "Jimmy Cooks".[14] The album's first two singles, "Sticky" and "Massive" were sent to rhythmic contemporary radio and contemporary hit radio, respectively, on June 21.[15][16] "Jimmy Cooks" impacted contemporary hit radio on October 11, as the album's third single.[17] On November 26, 2022, Drake revealed that the album is part of a trilogy of albums following Certified Lover Boy and later Her Loss.[18]
In popular culture[edit]
The song "Texts Go Green" was used by Google in an Android advertisement to call on Apple Inc. to adopt Rich Communication Services (RCS), in reference to the song's premise of iPhone users being blocked on iMessage.[46]
Commercial performance[edit]
Honestly, Nevermind debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 204,000 album-equivalent units, including 11,000 pure album sales. Its tracks earned a total of 250.23 million on-demand streams. The album is Drake's eleventh number-one album in the US.[47] In its second week, the album remained in the top ten as it fell to number three, earning 73,000 album-equivalent units.[48] As of November 30, 2022, Honestly, Nevermind was the twenty-ninth best-selling album of the year according to Hits, moved a total 728,000 album-equivalent units, including 16,000 pure album sales, 60,000 song sales, 899 million audio-on-demand streams, and 41 million video-on-demand streams.[49] Honestly, Nevermind was the most-popular Dance/Electronic album in the United States in 2022 and topped Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums for 20 weeks.[50] On August 13, 2023, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a one million units in the United States.[51]
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