MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

When will Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy' release? Rapper tells fans not to wait for album in January

Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy' was supposed to release in January 2021 but ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’ rapper has confirmed that fans will have now have to wait

Drake was all set to release his new album, ‘Certified Lover Boy’, in January 2021 but has now issued an update via his Instagram story that the forthcoming album will not arrive this month. The Grammy Award-winning musician cited his knee surgery and rehab as the significant reasons for the delay in the release of ‘Certified Lover Boy.’

“I was planning to release my album this month but between surgery and rehab my energy has been dedicated to recovery,” Drake wrote. “I’m blessed to be back on my feet feeling great and focused on the album, but CLB won’t be dropping in January. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all in 2021.”

Though the 34-year-old Drake has not shared more details about his knee surgery, it was revealed that he had sustained an injury in the fall of 2020. This was not the time first time when he underwent knee surgery. In 2015, he fell on stage and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that required him to undergo surgery later that year.

'Certified Lover Boy' details

Drake’s longtime engineer Noel Cadastre, who worked closely on Drake’s ‘Scorpian’, said in July 2020 that the new album was about 90 percent done but his fans would have to “wait on that last 10%.”

So far, Drake has released only one single, ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’ featuring Lil Durk from his much-awaited album. The music video of ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’ is directed by Dave Meyers and features numerous athletes, like Marshawn Lynch, Odell Beckham Jr., and Kevin Durant. Drake’s ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’ ended up featuring on his 2020 mixtape, ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes,’ along with another follow-up single with Giveon.

While talking about ‘Certified Lover Boy’ last year, Drake said he expects some of his listeners to hate the album. During an interaction with his fans on Instagram Live in November 2020, Drake responded to a comment from one fan who asked him to talk about his next studio album and how it would be different from his previously released ones, especially ‘Views’. To this, the Canadian rapper said: “They hated on ‘Views’ just like they will CLB but it’s music to evolve to.”

Social media reaction to 'Certified Lover Boy'

Several of Drake's fans took to Twitter to share their disappointment that they won't be able to listen to the rest of the songs from the 'Certified Lover Boy' album in January 2021. However, many hope that Drake has better health before releasing his next studio album.

One user shared an image while writing, "No drake album this month. Now I can’t simp to new drake."

Another user writes, "So no Drake?" while sharing an image where a boy is throwing his phone.

Meanwhile, Drake has become the first-ever artist to surpass 50 billion combined Spotify streams. The Chart Data website that keeps regular tabs on popular artists and their songs announced on January 19, 2021, that Drake had become the first artist in history to hit this milestone. As of now, Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’ racked up 1.67 billion streams out of the 35.72 billion streams of his own songs and 14.30 billion streams of featured streams.