When Aubrey Drake Graham, better known as Drake, released For All the Dogs in 2023, the album received a warm but unremarkable reception from his fans.
With 23 songs and over 3 billion streams, the album didn’t reach the heights of his 2016 or 2018 ones — “Views” or “Scorpion,” which accumulated over 10 billion listens. However, a few songs in the album stood out, like “8am in Charlotte” and “Virginia Beach,” surpassing over hundreds of millions of individual streams.
When Drake announced his most recent album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, a collaboration with singer Jahron Anthony Brathwaite, otherwise known by his stage name as PARTYNEXTDOOR, listeners were excited to hear new music from the artists, especially after his viral back-and-forth diss tracks Drake has exchanged with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
The Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR collaboration has been long awaited — fans love both artists for their classic R&B and hip-hop styles. Their previous collaboration songs, such as “Loyal” in 2020 and “Members Only” in 2023, gained significant popularity, each receiving over a hundred million streams.
Considering Drake’s reputation as one of the highest-ever streamed artists on Spotify and his underwhelming recent album, listeners had high hopes before the release. There were also significant expectations for PARTYNEXTDOOR to deliver; he was coming off an excellent “PARTYNEXTDOOR 4 (P4)” album with several huge hit songs in 2024.
The new album, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” came out on Valentine’s Day; it offered 21 new songs, totaling an hour and 13 minutes of music.
Drake’s solo songs in the middle of the album, “BRIAN STEEL” and “GIMME A HUG,” are fan-favorites thanks to their catchy tune and greater encapsulation of Drake’s vocals and rapping compared to the other songs in the album. Soon after “GIMME A HUG” comes “NOKIA,” which samples the 1994 Nokia ringtone to create the tempo and beat switches in the song; as a result, I find “NOKIA” to ultimately be my favorite in the album.
In the middle of the album, a song joined by guest artist Chino Pacas, also surprisingly caught my attention. Titled “MEET YOUR PADRE,” the song features a fusion of English and Spanish and is accompanied by a guitar instrumental. Although the song didn’t make the top of my list, the diverse genres and selection of the guest artist made the song notable.
Most of the other songs capture the R&B essence that both artists have been known to be able to display throughout their careers, such as “DIE TRYING,” “SOMEBODY LOVES ME,” “CELIBACY,” “WHEN HE’S GONE” and “GREEDY.” All five feature moderate instrumentals and vocals. The best is“DIE TRYING,” which displays balanced singing from both artists and contributions from special guest artist Yebba. Their ability to elevate the other’s singing in the chorus pushes it even further as one of the best in the album.
Clearly, both artists must have felt under pressure while creating the album, but their hard work paid off. With only a few duds in the album (“MEET YOUR PADRE” and “PIMMIE’S DILEMMA” come to mind), $ome $exy $ongs 4 U elevates both artists in a way their fans can only applaud.
