Singer/rapper Drake released a new single titled “Girls Love Beyonce,” a track dedicated once again to his relationship woes.
The Young Money artist has been the Heartbreak Kid of music, thanks to his personal love life often involving strippers becoming the inspiration for his heartfelt and emotional lyrics touching on subjects about unrequited love and the issues surrounding casual sex.
This isn’t Drake’s first single for 2013. Earlier in the year he released his single “Started From The Bottom,” a faster-paced track that celebrates the success of his crew and himself despite all of the obstacles he endured. Drake has often been criticized for making women’s music, not in a misogynist sense, but in that his lyrics and his beats often cater to the female ear.
It features James Fauntleroy, a producer part of the R&B production group The Y’s, singing sympathetically over the beat. The song opens as a low bass humming and slowly drifts into a slowed down beat of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name.” Listeners haven’t heard Drake this sad since the melodramatic “Marivn’s Room” from his last album, “Take Care.” The reason why this single will be a hit has nothing to do with the lyrics, beat or fetaured artist. Since his mixtapes, Drake hasn’t strayed too far from his signature style of emo rap.
And why would he? The artist has a clever way of approaching music. His uncanny ability to make music that appeals both to men and women gives him an undying audience and makes is work timeless. This ability is what will save him despite the inevitable downfall of the Young Money team (the group will fall eventually).
As he struggles with his inner dialogue, Drake begins to question his current life of choices of hedonistic living, saying, “All my young boys round me say, “Get Money (expletive) these hoes/ Where we learn these values? I do not know to tell you.” Apparently all the clubbing and throwing money effortlessly on lighted stages has crept back up like a bad burrito after a long night of drinking. The overtones of harmonizing between Drake and Fauntleroy pair perfectively with his cynicism.
At least the rapper can console in his friends. Despite his issues with relationships, Drake defends his OVO crew, singing, “I’m scared to let somebody in on this/ No new friends, no, no, no.” Obviously Drake still has his infamous trust issues, but this comes as no surprise.
Often an audience wouldn’t say that a general sense of melancholy should serve an artist well, but with Drake it doesn’t seemed forced. His lyrics have always read as an open diary of the anguished rapper who is just looking for someone to love. In that sense, his lyrics become relatable as they transcend cryptic metaphors or issues often found in other rapper’s lyrics. The day Drake finally settles down and finds love will be the day his fans see a different turn in his music. Perhaps the result will be profitable, but for now, listeners can predict his music to continuously shine a light into his troubled, emotional private life. Unless his songs touch on struggle in love or the success of hard work, the audience isn’t buying it. Thus the stoy of a tragic hero prevails.
