Today’s Gen Z pop stars make Millennials look like Boomers

A playful competition is evidence of a dynamic that has been increasingly noticeable this year: the growing generational divide between pop’s Millennial elders and their Gen Z heirs.

Lindsay Zoladz

Dec 29, 2021 – 5.00am

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On August 30, the archetypal Millennial Drake revealed the cover of his new album, Certified Lover Boy. Designed by British art provocateur Damien Hirst, it depicts 12 emoji women of varying skin tones, all pregnant, presumably by (emoji?) Drake.

Much like the cover of Drake’s 2016 album, Views, which featured the 35-year-old perched moodily atop Toronto’s CN Tower, this image was first met with disbelief, a little bit of cringe and then an unending torrent of memes. The most memorable came from a onetime internet troll who has, over the past few years, risen to become one of Drake’s musical peers: Lil Nas X.