Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Drake pivots to introspective house on “Falling Back.”
Only nine months after the release of his last LP Certified Lover Boy, Drake is back today with a surprise album titled Honestly, Nevermind. For one, it needs to be mentioned that Honestly, Nevermind is the most “Drake album title” album title yet — nothing implies “I’m emotional but also I’m aloof” more than a passive aggressive “honestly, nevermind.”
Rest assured, the album is full of surprises; Drake has dug his heels yet again in the palate of house music, echoing the glowing highs of his 2017 mixtape More Life (without the laundry list of collaborators) and featuring a plethora of his signature pop-R&B style.
Kicking off the album and setting the tone immediately is the thumping house jam “Falling Back,” which finds Drake employing an almost stream-of-consciousness approach to a lush, hypnotic beat. There’s something immediately satisfying about hearing Drake embrace a looser, more textural style, caring less about the weight of his lyrics and more about the physical experience of the song — something house music boasts well.
Drake isn’t necessarily saying anything new on “Falling Back”; he laments the frayed dynamics of his relationship, reflecting an ample amount of distance, haze and “you know how I feel” statements, which are all signature Drake-isms. But what’s fascinating about “Falling Back” is how Drake begins to slowly repeat himself more and more as the 5-minute song continues, almost like he’s falling under the hypnotic spell he created for himself.
This is at the core of why Honestly, Nevermind is one of the more interesting albums Drake has released — after the underwhelming Certified Lover Boy found Drake in high melancholy, constantly questioning the motives of the ones around him, and creating with a generally safe sonic palette, Honestly, Nevermind completely liberates Drake from his arbitrary position as… Drake.
It’s time to dance, to trip, to look inward — but not necessarily to find answers. On “Falling Back” and Honestly, Nevermind, Drake is simply more concerned with the process.
— Paolo Ragusa
Editorial Coordinator