Blue Ivy steals Drake's thunder in case of mistaken identity
Single superstar Drake is getting a taste of what it’s like to be a family man by osmosis ever since fans, obsessed with Blue Ivy Carter, daughter of Beyonce and Jay-Z, decided Blue was Drake’s mini-doppelganger by comparing their baby pictures. Now Drake has a new album out with cover art of a child who looks like Blue. While he insists she’s is not the inspiration, as the album’s title says, once there was a child in the picture, “Nothing Was The Same.”
Poor Drake has learned that the baby blues of being eclipsed by a Hollywood child are not limited to the baby’s parents. While his new album doesn’t drop until September 24, the singer’s fans were so wrapped up in Blue Ivy that the album is already launched in the wrong direction.
This little girl has given prophetic meaning to Beyonce’s musical roots since she truly is, like her famous mom’s former singing group of the same name, “Destiny’s Child.” Blue is destined to alter the life courses of mega stars just by being born. I have never seen a third party, non-parent go down with the baby ship but Drake sure looks like he needs a life ring right about now because Blue Ivy has swamped him good and proper.
Most parents experience the transition from “It’s all about me” to it’s all about the baby. However Blue Ivy, who is a public obsession only rivaled by Britain’s new prince, has altered the trajectory of three stars: Beyonce, Jay-Z, and now Drake.
When people began asking if his cover art was “an homage to Blue Ivy Carter” Drake tried to correct the impression. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance against a baby-fueled rumor and gossip mill.
People, people please, Drake isn’t stalking the “royal” Beyonce baby or courting her mama. He’s a typical, self-absorbed, pre-baby guy whose album cover is all about himself.
While Beyonce released new pictures of her baby, Drake released his album art early via Instagram so that he could explain the cover art by Kadir Nelson which features a baby facing Drake, both in profile.
The baby is a ringer for Blue Ivy and fans blew up social media to ask why Blue was on the cover. It turns out the art is meant to represent Drake as a child and being in the Ivy League via his friendship with her parents had fans seeing Blue in everything any of them do.
According to published reports Drake says, “When you go to the store and see it, you’ll see the full painting. When it’s positioned on the shelf, whatever store you go to, if they do it as I’ve asked [laughs], you’ll see the fact that it’s a child version of myself staring at myself now. Sometimes when I try and think back on this journey, it’s so hard to pinpoint all of these moments and it gets foggy. Even on past albums when I’ve been trying to tell this story, I’ve got there, but maybe not got there all the way. And what that album art is to me is, like, this is my most clean, concise thoughts from now, and my best recollection of then. That’s really what that cover’s about.”
However, Drake just learned the hard parenting lesson before having any kids of his own, that no matter how famous, special and spotlit we may be, kids can turn us into backdrop in a New York minute.
It happens to average parents all the time as we go from weekend warriors to soccer moms and hockey dads driving minivans and eating leftover PB&J sandwiches instead of calorie counted slimming meals. So there is a bit of fun in seeing the famous, with all their money and perfection, cope with the reality that, “Nothing was the same,” in fact nothing will ever be the same again and now we’re not the one on the rise.
As parents we learn to celebrate their achievements even as we mourn that we are no longer the innocent, pure, “new” people that our kids are at that moment. For Beyonce and Jay-Z that will come easier than for those in their famous circle, Like Drake, who are collateral damage in the war parenthood wages on us all.
If Drake wants to win he needs to stick to the old adage: never work with kids or animals. Even if the kid in question is just your own baby picture.
