Hear, hear!
Your favorite actor–turned–actually–talented–musician Aubrey Graham—aka Drake—dropped two new tracks called “God’s Plan” and “Diplomatic Immunity” via Instagram this past weekend. The pair of songs were subsequently added on both Spotify and Apple Music as the only currently listed tracks for some vague project called Spooky Hours (Ed note: yes, we are also confused).
Move over, “Despacito.” Song one of Drake’s release, “God’s Plan,” single–handedly broke Spotify’s one–day streaming record. The track chronicle’s Drizzy’s swift come up in the music biz as we have come to know and love from throwbacks like “Headlines,” and “Started From the Bottom.” But “God’s Plan” has the spunk and grit that we have come to associate Drake with in the past few years as he has transformed from lovable teddy–bear who was bar mitzvahed on SNL to the bearded and Raptors–loving taste maker who had the honor—nay, privilege—to be rejected by both Rihanna and JLo.
Not so unsurprisingly, JLo’s name is in Drizzy’s mouth on the second track of the drop, “Diplomatic Immunity.” Part diss–track, part scathing tell–all of the trials and tribulations of the high–rolling, touring musician life style, the song is full of epic one liners that are just begging to be insta captions, memes, subtweets, and hoodie designs. Petty and snarky, the song both at once exemplifies some of his best rapping over the past few years and some of his greatest missteps (sorry bro, you lost me a little bit with "Calamari rings and tomato / I got the sauce and now shorties keep claimin’ preggo"). But the overall melodrama and bravado reminiscent of “Do Not Disturb” brings a new edge to the unofficial business report we have come to pine for in order to get our dose of Drizzy drama.
So, is this a repeat of last year’s More Life A/B singles or a teaser for a new EP? Or is this just Drake being...well, Drake? After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s dropped some fire tracks for really no apparent reason—and Drizzy, I love you for it. But does he still have what it takes to still make club bangers and jams that get you in your feels?
While these songs do sound very—very, very, very—similar to what you would expect from your favorite Canadian rapper, there’s just something so undeniably alluring and appealing about a Drake track. Whether it’s the trademark base lines that we came to know and love on mix tapes and albums like So Far Gone, Thank Me Later, and (of course) Take Care, or something completely unexpected and new like the bops on Views, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi at the essence of every velvety word that has kept Drake on the map for the better part of a decade.
