Scorpion is such a weird album in Drake's discography

Like we can't deny that it's probably bottom 3 reviewed Drake albums even among his fans, due to the sheer volume of tracks, the slog of most. of side B, and general lack of new content. Especially coming off Adidon, his bars on here regarding his son and perspective on the game paint his POV in a bit of a limbo. I feel like the bars on Emotionless like

or this album’s closer March 14, “Sandi used to tell me all it takes is one time, and all it took was one time
S***, we only met two times,” will forever play a role in people clowning Drake as a father online. those bars are like Drake trying to make his PR/ Damage control statement seem vulnerable and confessional. With some of the leaks and outtakes from this album we’ve heard as time has flown by, I honestly think Drake was en route to creating a classic, but a lot of changes he made to it were a reaction to the drama, which kinda tanked it quality-wise.

and yet its got some of his career highs in terms of commercial success

Nice For What, In My Feelings, Nonstop, God's Plan, and Mob Ties all hit the charts and are some of his biggest and most quality hits of his career.

Its record-breaking streaming numbers didn't just top the charts; they broke the existing system

In a clear response to Drake's record-shattering numbers, Billboard implemented the new tiered system we have today : 1,250 paid streams (from premium subscriptions) now counted as one album unit, while it suddenly took a 3,750 free streams to equal just one unit.
This was a clear move to slow down artists like Drake who can mobilize their audiences and leverage fans who use free-tier streaming, and moving the goalposts to make it harder to hit these massive record breaking sales Drake was pulling in casually.

Beyond just streaming, these new rules heavily prioritized traditional radio airplay, a metric that's much more susceptible to industry maneuvering and backdoor deals, over the support of fans..

He even rapped about it on 2023’s Red Button, saying,
"Radio is king again, Billboard got me regulated, Wanna make it fair for you, numbers that I generated, Do Right And Kill Everything, people knew that death awaited.”

despite fans and critics not loving the album or rating it very highly, you could maybe argue that the success of this album and subsequent changes to the billboard charts have changed the music industry more than most artists ever could through their art, for better or worse, cementing its place not just as a cultural moment, but as a watershed event in chart history that inadvertently regulated the path to the top.
so now we come to the actual question posed in the OP

• Is Scorpion Drake’s most successful failure?

I listened to Scorpion recently and while I disliked it at first I do think it has a lot of solid songs. Side B is a mess but I liked Side A.

Not a "failure" but I hate that this could've been so much better and he intentionally bloated it for streams. He could've capitalized on the sound that worked (like In My Feelings and that bounce sound).

I can definitely see people prefer this one over his projects from this decade.

Great album. Side A is dope

CLB is infinitely worse

In general I think Scorpion is around the time a lot of people stopped caring about Drake albums. The Pusha T beef was a big part of it. Since then, I think a lot of people just want him to drop a few brag rap bangers and a few laid back IG caption bar songs a year and be on with it.

scorpion is a lot better than views

Btw just checked and every Drake project from this decade is rated lower other than HNVM

CLB > Scorpion

FATD is way worse than Scorpion

Scorpion is uneven but to say it’s bottom 3 is giving CLB, FATD, and Thank Me Later too much credit

CLB half the hits were trash too

For you maybe

Both have really high highs and really low lows I can see why you’d say this

Respect this take but Views is like a top 3 Drake

I personally prefer scorpion, more than other albums, it has relatability for me to this day. enjoyed the overall energy on that album

and I’ve always said, no other artist could pull off a scorpion.

Scorpions biggest problem is CLB’s biggest problem and that’s the beefs distracting what was supposed to be a much better album. Critiquing March 14 is kinda crazy though that type of vulnerability is what we love about Drake

Interesting album because it sold so well, yet most Drake stans freely admit it was garbage. That 'sales = quality' bullshit only applies to other artists huh

CLB 17/21 Scorpion side B is a mess

Name the 4

In the Bible, girls want girls, way 2 sexy, love all. remove those and he got a top rated drake project lol

It’s not a good album but it has some great songs for sure and some great hits. Make it like 12 songs it’s one of his best.

People were waiting for what he was gonna do after the Adonis thing, he had some huge singles, some great hits alone on there, in his most dominant year, with a long ass album which makes its streaming better.

Survival, nice for what, emotionless, gods plan, nonstop, after dark, in my feelings, Sandra’s rose, 8 out of 10, is there more, and March 14 I like. I forgot which one of these but the one with good guy line tho has some bad writing tho it’s kinda cringe.

Nonstop is a hit so it should stay but imo way too long, mob ties is kinda cringe but sounds really good and catchy, jaded is also good but insanely creepy lol.

I would add 7AM on Bridle Path, Get Along Better, F***ing Fans and The Remorse