Drake: Hotline Bling
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Genre: Hip-hop, R&BPros:
Memorable chorus, tradtional R&B values prop up Drake's latest Quiet Storm bangerCons:
His talk-singing tho. Not exactly a Marvin Gaye replacement.Geeky dance moves aside, the music behind the “Hotline Bling” video craze inherits one heck of a cool groove
Geeky dance moves aside, the music behind the “Hotline Bling” video craze inherits one heck of a cool groove
Okay, so Drake’s geeky dance moves in the music video for his latest single “Hotline Bling” is getting all the attention. It’s a meme-nado now and it is official that you can now do the Elaine Dance in the club and not be the clown on the town. But sweet Moses, the music is clearly worthy of our analysis. At the center of its musical canvas is a spread of intoxicating reggae-esque beats and gentle organ chords, which comes from a curvaceous sampling of Timmy Thomas’s mono-recorded 1972 hit “Why Can’t We Live Together?” Those chore ingredients uphold Drake’s bedside crooning as he enters a course of Isley Bros. pleading (“You used to call me on my cell phone/Late night when you need my love”). Since leaving the city, his dear love is moving on, and he’s dropping forget-me-nots of the days on her ear about how his cell phone used to blow up for a midnight rendezvous. Although Drake’s talk-sing method isn’t the best of the best in the crooner realm, his intelligence and soft-spoken urban swagger, along with the sob tale of a man’s superego losing its machismo, feels just right. And he never allows his pleading to read the low levels of aggravation heard on the “they know, they know” phrasing of “Headlines.”
In case you didn’t know, Drake has powerfully dominated the Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs survey for the last number of weeks. “Hotline Bling” is the latest to hit the number one spot on that chart, while a cluster of others (“Jumpman,” Where Ya At,” “Back to Back,” “Big Rings,” “Diamonds Dancing,” “Right Hand”) all dominate the top 25.
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