So, lets be honest: I havnt touched my blog in almost two months! Unfortunately, planning a huge move back to NY from Michigan occupies a lot of time and effort. I knew I had to cut something out for a few months and this seemed like the natural selection for me. When youre writing about music, you have to listen to that music a lot. So while writing all my reviews of music in the past and such, all the music I was gathering in the present sat barely touched. Technically I’ve still been working on this blog. I’ve just been doing it by listening to tons of music without the pressure of writing about it. Over the last few weeks though I’ve become obsessed with Drake and most of my listening has turned towards his last 2 releases, Thank Me Later and Take Care.
Thank Me Later is the perfect album title for Drake since it really is how I feel about his music. The idea behind the title being that “You may not appreciate this album now but you’ll thank me later.” Which is true! I didnt get into Thank Me Later until Take Care came out and I’m only just now getting heavily into Take Care now that his new album has released. I’m just going to share a couple of my favorites.
Fireworks – This moody piano number with sparse drums and Alicia Keys is the opener on Thank Me Later and the song that I originally thanked him later for. I was initially bored with the song feeling like it took way too long to get started and never really went anywhere. Ive done a complete 180 on the song though mostly due to me fully embracing Drakes singing and rapping styles.
Find Your Love – This was actually the first Drake song I loved mostly because it has Kanye’s 808’s and Heartbreak written all over it. Actually Drake credits that album with giving him the confidence to sing on his albums which I’m forever thankful for since its my favorite aspect of his sound.
Those first two were just samplers of Thank Me Later. The real obsession for me right now is with Take Care. Some of these songs Ive listened to 25 or 30 times in the last 3 or 4 days alone. Its gotten that bad.
Headlines – The beat on this song…. And Drakes flow. Its just… perfect. And the line “I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that, And they want to see me pick back up, well, where’d I leave it at” is just delivered so perfectly. But getting back to the beat, it reminds me of this single moment in the miyazaki film Laputa (Castle in the Sky in the US) soundtrack that happens at the moment when Pazu hangs upside down to rescue Sheeta from a tower. I know thats a super specific reference so ignore it if you dont know it but its one of my favorite scenes in all of film so the fact that this songs draws up memories of it is just wonderful.
Take Care – I’m a fan of the xx and so are Rihanna and Drake. Nowhere is this more apparent than on their obvious homage to that band with this quiet duet (The song samples Jamie xx). My favorite moment on the track is Drake’s line “It’s my birthday, I’ll get high if I want to, can’t deny that I want you, but I’ll lie if I have to.” Something about its delivery just gets me every single time.
Shot for Me – This is one I only recently rediscovered. I love how petty the first verse is. I listened to it and was just like, “Wow this guy must have been pretty hurt by these women to attack them so viciously. Very immature….” And then the second verse roles around and you get to see this entirely different side of him where he admits that he wrote this petty first verse but obviously he still cares about these women who left him. He ends the song with a prayer that their lives get better. I think it was mostly the surprise that got to me. I judged him harshly about how mean he was being only to find out he understood exactly how petty he was.
Those are just a VERY QUICK sampling of what Drake has to offer so if you liked those definitely check out the rest of his body of work. Once again I’m sorry I havnt written much lately but hopefully that will change once I’m back in New York City!
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