While some find it an “abomination”, others criticise its “simplistic” nature. Either way, the cover of the album “Certified Lover Boy” is causing a huge stir.

Drake revealed the artwork via his Instagram account on Aug 30, a few days before the album release.

The artwork features several variations of the pregnant woman emoji on a white background. This multicolored mosaic is reminiscent of Damien Hirst’s famous “Spot Paintings”, which are huge panels featuring coloured dots.

Art lovers may also see an allusion to the many pregnancy-themed sculptures that the British artist has made over the years, such as “Wretched War” or “Virgin Mother”.

While maternity is a recurrent theme in Damien Hirst’s work, it is much less so in Drake’s discography. Some fans wondered on Twitter if the cover of “Certified Lover Boy” could be a roundabout way of addressing the rapper’s love life, while others saw it as an allegory of the process of creating the album.

“Drake is dropping ‘Certified Lover Boy’, an album about [baby making] nine months after the expected release date, on Labour day weekend, which is why there are pregnant emojis on the cover,” said one web user.

If rap fans struggle to find a consensus on the meaning of the image, they seem to agree when it comes to parodying the artwork.

American artist Lil Nas X, for example, took to Instagram to share his own version of the “Certified Lover Boy” cover. The pregnant woman emojis are replaced with emoticons of various pregnant men, creating quite a buzz for the “Old Town Road” singer, who took the opportunity to announce the imminent release of his own album, “Montero”.

Although the cover of “Certified Lover Boy” may not be to everyone’s taste, it has allowed Drake to restart the promotion of his sixth album.

The artist had first announced that the sequel to “Scorpion” would arrive in January, but the record was never released on streaming platforms – a tactic borrowed from his colleague Kanye West or Ye, whose albums are endlessly postponed.