Drake confirms he has a son, plus other highlights from new Scorpion release

Drake often boasts about his chart successes and wallows in heartaches, but on his latest album Scorpion, the Toronto superstar has delivered a confessional the likes we've never heard from him before.

The rapper and singer unleashed an explosive 25-track album onto streaming music services on Friday which appeared to confirm that he secretly fathered his first child — addressing a rumour that has been circulating on gossip websites.

Scorpion also offered some humbling observations on how social media are eating away at Drake's own life and the people around him.

While it's a digital-only release at this point, Scorpion is being presented as a double-album that's divided into two parts, one half rap songs and the other R&B tracks.

But what becomes especially clear on both sides is that the 31-year-old artist — who has often referred to himself as "the boy" — is swiftly being shepherded into manhood and the responsibilities that come with it.

Scorpion, which clocks in at nearly 90 minutes, features an array of guest appearances by marquee rappers like Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Future. It's also packed with classic music samples from Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and Lauryn Hill.

Here's are some of the most notable elements of the album:

Son no longer a rumour

Drake looks to be committing to fatherhood as he comes clean on speculation that he was keeping secret child away from the public spotlight.

Those rumours picked up steam in May when a spat between Drake and fellow rapper Pusha-T escalated into the diss track The Story of Adidon, where the American rapper called out Drake for failing to take responsibility as a dad.

Drake dodged the topic when it first emerged, but he addresses it numerous times throughout his album. On the song Emotionless he says, "I wasn't hiding my child from the world. I was hiding the world from my child."

Other songs that reference a son include 8 Out of 10 and March 14, where he directly addresses a boy — "I only met you one time, introduced you to Saint Nick.") — and confesses he's "embarrassed" to tell his divorced parents he's "a co-parent" too.

Lonely boys

Fans were baffled when it was confirmed legendary Ottawa-born crooner Paul Anka was in the studio with Drake earlier this year.

It turns out the duo were putting a new spin on an unreleased Michael Jackson track Anka produced in the early 1980s. It Don't Matter to Me was reworked into Drake's mid-tempo Don't Matter to Me, a brokenhearted love song punctuated by Jackson's unmistakable voice on the chorus.

Social media

The pressures of Instagram life might be wearing away at Drake's patience these days. Even though he's known for frequently updating his Instagram Story with slices of his lavish lifestyle, the rapper confesses on Can't Take a Joke that nasty posts from anonymous strangers eat away at him ("My comment section killin' me. I swear I get so passionate, y'all do not know the half of it.").

He revisits the soul-crushing side of social media on Emotionless when he recalls several women he knows who live through the lens of their phone cameras trying to "post pictures for people at home."

Fewer CanCon references

Surprisingly few mentions of Drake's Toronto hometown turn up in the lyrics on Scorpion, if there are any, but he does slip in a quick reference to the whales at Niagara Falls amusement park Marineland.

Other than that, his Canadian roots are mostly referenced through mentions of the United States. He talks about bringing his closest friends stateside when he works, and makes a cryptic reference on Sandra's Rose to having "some real demons across the border fence."

Pondering the meaning of it all

Between the boasts about his rap skills and competitive nature, Drake pauses to consider what the pursuit of fame and fortune actually means in the bigger picture. The question rings most strongly on Is There More, which throws his corporate deals and an endless parade of women into focus to ask, "Am I missin' somethin' that's more important to find? Like healin' my soul, like family time?"

He doesn't reach a conclusion on the song, which assures Drake still has plenty of conflicts to explore on his next album.