So I’ve had another interesting thought; do we actually love music because of how it sounds, or because of how much the lyrics and sounds apply to how we’re currently feeling in our lives?

I’m a firm believer that I listen to music with little bias and try to read more into the music than just how it makes me feel. I try to listen to the specific instruments, melodies, lyrics and their meaning. What I’m searching for when I do these things is a better and fuller understanding of the artist and the art that they’re giving us. I’ve been doing that for a while now, trying to make sure that I’m not just following the mainstream, that I actually like what I’m listening to for other reasons than just “everyone else likes it.”

In a world where most people are sheep and don’t even know it, I guess I try to be a bit of an anomaly. Individuality is important, in many cases. It makes you stand out to employers, friends, family and maybe even a future spouse. Is any of this really individuality though? Are we really consciously making these decisions to be different, or are we just enjoying things for what they are and how they affect us?

Many people don’t realize it, but art forms like music present themselves at many different points in our lives. Music has a way of being an audible time machine. Whenever you might hear a certain song, it might take you back to a certain point in your life when you were listening to that particular song a lot. For me, listening to the Eagles takes me back to when I was in elementary school, on car rides with my dad and the rest of the family to Disney. A T-Pain song, specifically any song off of “Rappa Ternt Sanga”, reminds me of all those bike rides I would go on with my earphones and my iPod to the baseball fields on nights when my team wasn’t playing. It can even happen with Drake, and usually if Drake’s music is taking me anywhere...yikes.

That’s actually the exact example I wanted to talk about. Drake recently released his highly anticipated album “Views”, an album that many hip-hop heads are rating at a five or six out of ten. I’d rate it six out of 10 on the Drake grading scale, in reference to other music he’s released and the effort we’re used to seeing out of him; and about a seven, maybe even as high as an eight, when it comes to the rest of music. Now, that’s not saying much, because there has been a lot of weak Rap and lukewarm R&B being put out in the last couple of years. Luckily, with releases this year from visionaries like Bas, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna and Kanye; and much more on the way from Kid Cudi, J. Cole and a second rumored 2016 release from Kanye, this is shaping up to be quite the year for hip-hop. But back to “Views.”

“Views” is a happier Drake than the public has grown accustomed to hearing. Don’t get me wrong, he still sounds pretty sad, but nowhere near the emotional toil that he expressed on albums like “Take Care.” It almost seems like he might not be making music from the heart to some. That maybe he’s just trying to put out music that’s “hot” for record sales, and not really focusing too much on the artistic side of the music. People aren’t feeling this album the way they’ve felt others, and I think it’s because it isn’t matching up with their actual feelings. It’s definitely not matching up with expectations either.

Music makes us feel things and this album, while I do sorta feel it, isn’t making too many feel it. Most people will lie, not know what they’re talking about, though, and tell you they “love” it or that it’s Drake’s best work yet, when both are far from the truth, whether you want to admit it or not.

The big hope that this album has is growing on people, as it’s started to grow on me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll adopt some of Drake’s sentiments on this album as my own, run with them, apply them to my life and then this could become the album of the summer. The key here is that we’ve all got to “feel” it. If people aren’t feeling it, good luck to you and your art, because people can tell when you’re speaking from the heart.