Is the old Drake back? Aubrey “Drake” Graham and Jahron Anthony Brathwaite “PartyNextDoor” released their anticipated joint album “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” on Feb. 14. The duo first announced their album back in August 2024 letting their fans, specifically their female fan base, know that when they are done being outside, referring to partying and summertime, and when the weather gets chilly that this album will be there for them.
Both artists first teased two songs from the album on Feb. 3, which is when they also announced the album’s release date, Valentines Day, which was far from when fans thought they would have released the album. This had the OVO community (October’s Very Own), which is Drake’s label/fandom name, in a frenzy because they were not used to Drake ever doing promo for any of his past albums, especially after the year he’s had with the ongoing feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
The album consists of 21 songs and is described as a R&B/soul genre, but it wouldn’t be a Drake album without some rap incorporated. When the duo first announced the album many were not excited about it due to it being a more of a chill album and not a fast paced rap album, which was more like his last project “For All The Dogs” and many expected Drake to come out with an album that addressed the past year with Kendrick Lamar but he decided to go the other route and released a more R&B focused album instead.
With both artists being from Canada many of the songs showed appreciation for the country they are both from, such as the album cover being Drake and PartyNextDoor in front of the Absolute World Tower and the intro of the song being named “CN Tower” referring to the Canadian Tower, which is the most famous tower in the city.
This album has been years in the making from their first collaboration “Over Here” which was featured on PartyNextDoor’s self-titled album in 2013. Drake even draws from some of his past work in this recent album in the song “CN Tower” by sampling “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne, who is one of Drake’s idols. Also, in “Spider-Man Superman” he again samples his old work, “The Real Her,” from his album “Take Care.” Even though this is a joint album many fans of PartyNextDoor complained about not having enough songs from him on this album besides, “Deeper” which is PartyNextDoor’s only solo song on the album, which became another top song on the album.
Drake and PartyNextDoor are well known for making songs about relationships and women but adding their own toxic swing to it, and on “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” they know exactly how to make this apparent. Despite all the backlash, after the first week of its release the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and even after one month since it was released the album’s top song “Nokia” is No. 1 on Apple’s Top Charts.
