3 Certified Lover Boy Recommendations in 3 minutes

and 3 psychological biases to go with.

I wrote this while listening to the 86 minutes of Certified Lover Boy (CLB). This past week Drake snatched nine of the top 10 positions on the Hot 100 list.

“I know I said top five, but I’m top two, And I’m not two and I got one” - Drake on Gyalchester

Before you roll your eyes at my irrational Drake fanaticism, you should know I’m self-aware. Let’s be real, I would have been excited for just about any music Drake would have dropped. I even like Playboi Carti’s verse on Pain 1993 from Dark Lane Demo Tapes.

But how am I biased listening to CLB? We’ll get into that just now. But first a disclaimer: My knowledge about Drake and the music industry pales in comparison to my enthusiasm.

Speaking of the music industry my #1 song recommendation from CLB is “No Friends In The Industry”

Credit: @theboy.drake

I think this song is great in its own right. However, it is influenced by the first of three biases: Frequency bias. This is also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. 

“It is when your awareness of something increases. This leads you to believe it’s actually happening more, even if that’s not the case.”

I listened to “No Friends In The Industry” every single morning for the past couple of weeks. At least I remember it that way. Do you get the point?

The frequency illusion should not be sufficient to influence how I perceive the album. However, what gets attention gets traction.

Do you want to test this phenomenon? Track how many times you seem to hear about Drake and Certified Lover Boy this week. 

“Yeah, you heard about me, you don't know me more than that” - Drake on No Friends In The Industry

Wow, “No Friends In The Industry” just played as I typed this. The next bias is the Bizarreness effect. 

“The bizarreness effect holds that items associated with bizarre sentences or phrases are more readily recalled than those associated with common sentences or phrases.”

What are the top two songs on the Hot 100 I mentioned earlier? 

“Way 2 Sexy” featuring Future and Young Thug. It’s the only song with a music video as of this writing. And the video most definitely counts as bizarre. So bizarre that I’m not linking to it.

The second is “Girls want Girls” featuring Lil Baby. It’s comical that most people had to give Drake’s chorus a second listen. By the way, does anyone else get triggered when someone, usually older, says “Little Baby” instead of “Lil Baby”. 

The bizarreness effect is why this trick for remembering names works: Make an unusual connection between their name and some information you know. 

“The name John might make you think of John Lennon, the Gospel of John in the Bible, John F. Kennedy, or it could even simply be that you have a friend or family member that is also named John”

Before we talk about the last bias and recommendation I have, here are some honorable song mentions:

“Champagne Poetry“: This first track samples a Beatles song!

“Knife talk“: Is a rap album even complete without a 21 savage feature?

“7am on Bridle Path“: Drake rhymed with my favorite NBA player’s last name: Antetokounmpo. 

The final bias is recency bias. 

“The recency effect is the tendency to remember the most recently presented information best”

Before you scream that this effect applies to “No Friends In The Industry”, I hear you. And you’re right. I have been listening to it more recently. But then you’re simultaneously falling prey to Baader-Meinhof frequency bias. “No Friends In The Industry” is the only song I’ve mentioned more than once so far.

My final recommendation is “Fair Trade” featuring Travis Scott! Why? I’ve been listening to it a lot lately.

“I've been losin' friends and findin' peace
Honestly, that sound like a fair trade to me“

Biases:

Frequency bias: Increased awareness of an idea, makes you think it occurs more often

Bizarreness effect: You remember unique concepts better.

Recency bias: The most recent events are top of mind.

I write this conclusion as the last song on the album plays. Thank you for accompanying me on this fanatic journey.

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