Drake's Playful <em>More Life</em> and the Limits of Ambition
The title of Drake’s More Life comes from a Jamaican encouragement, and a lot of listeners might take it as a carpe diem or live long and prosper or another zap of inspiration. But you could read the phrase more darkly—as a reference to the drag of mortality, as a gripe at another day on this rock. Someone might sigh “more life” around big birthdays, or after big achievements. That thing your whole life has been leading up to has happened. Now what? Just more life.
Drake turned 30 in October, during the period when his album was fulfilling every prophecy he’d made for himself. His No. 1 hit? gave . Becoming the biggest name in music? sold any album last year. The 81-minute release also drew an unprecedented amount of to him—for indulgence, for sameness, for petulance. What’s more life after that? Laws of gravity and fame would suggest a likely answer: descent.
