At this point, it almost feels like a new Drake album isn’t complete until the internet argues about the Pitchfork score.
The publication dropped its review of Iceman this week, giving the project a 4.8/10 and immediately sparking backlash across social media. Written by Jayson Greene, the review opens with the line: “Part one of Drake’s comeback trilogy is an attempt to settle the score. He does not succeed.” Unsurprisingly, a large portion of the OVO fanbase was not feeling that assessment at all.
A lot of fans weren’t just disagreeing with the review either. Some accused major music publications of having a long-running bias against Drake, while others dismissed the criticism entirely. “We do not care about these UMG sponsored reviews,” one user wrote online as discourse around the score continued spreading across X and Instagram.
Fans are not impressed
To be fair, Pitchfork has built a reputation off divisive reviews for years, so none of this is exactly shocking. In fact, they also recently reviewed Chris Brown’s BROWN album and gave it a 1.3, calling it a “soulless, hit-chasing new album doesn’t justify his return to the public eye.”
But what makes the Iceman reaction interesting is how disconnected critical reception currently feels from fan reception. While publications continue debating whether Drake still has something to prove artistically, listeners seem far more locked into the music itself. Songs from Iceman, along with the additional drops, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR, have dominated conversation online all weekend.
Drake himself also seems pretty unfazed by the criticism at this stage of his career. Over the weekend, he even reposted old negative comments about his 2011 album Take Care to his Instagram Story, including reactions pulled from HotNewHipHop coverage at the time. It felt like a reminder that nearly every Drake era initially gets hit with skepticism before people eventually revisit it differently years later.
Whether Iceman ends up aging the same way is still up for debate. But one thing Drake has consistently proven is that bad reviews rarely stop his albums from becoming cultural moments anyway.
