Drake and PartyNextDoor’s new album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U has arrived and, depending on who you ask, is evidence that Drake is as good as ever or more proof that his career can’t withstand the death blow of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Reality is probably somewhere closer to the middle, as the album offers fans of Drake and PND’s breezy R&B sound plenty to grasp onto, with 21 tracks of well-executed, signature OVO-style hits. Drake and PND have a magnetic chemistry that gels on several moments on the record, though it’ll likely mostly appeal to listeners who are fans of his style of R&B.
On the other hand, if you already don’t like Drake, nothing here is going to change your mind, though that doesn’t seem to be the purpose of the record, which leans more heavily into fan service—a treat for those who’ve stayed loyal (or at least neutral) as Drake suffered last year’s cavalcade of embarrassments. For casual listeners, songs like “Nokia” and “Gimme A Hug” are likely to be in heavy rotation in the coming months, as they’ve already started taking off on video platforms like TikTok and Reels.
Overall, the album seems like a sensible move for Drake when it comes to courting a general public that’s spent a year dancing on his metaphorical grave. Here are six takeaways from Drake and PartyNextDoor’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U.
Drake Offers a Response to His Beef With Kendrick Lamar
The moment everyone was waiting for on this record doesn’t actually arrive until close to midway through on “Brian Steel,” a track named after Young Thug’s now mythical attorney. Drake alludes to the rap beef heard around the world — and at the Super Bowl — with pretty standard-issue Drake talk. “Broski just hit me, said, ‘Put all the beef on the side,’” he raps, alluding to Thug, who was recently released from jail. “I can’t / Mm-mm, I’m heated now, yeah.” On the next track, “Gimme A Hug,” Where Drake’s in peak form with the rapping and melodies, he seems to change his mind: “Fuck a rap beef, I’m tryna get the party lit.” Perhaps if you’re still deeply invested in the ethics and strategy of this beef in the year of our Lord 2025, this is some sort of damning reversal. Otherwise, it reads more like Drake mentioning the thing he’s been most famous for in the past year and doing what he can to minimize it, which is honestly all he can really do at this point.
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Chino Pacas Shows Up For a Trip to Mexico
One thing that’s certain about Drake is his commitment to a bit. Spanish accent Drizzy, who has been popping out going back to his 2018 collab with Bad Bunny “MIA,” makes an appearance alongside Chino Pacas on “Meet Your Padre,” which, Drake’s pronunciation issues aside, is sort of a bop. PND’s melodic delivery fits well alongside the Mexican regional sound Pacas is known for, making for a compelling international crossover and more evidence of the Mexican regional sound’s growing influence across genres of music.
Ice Spice Offers The Ambience For “Glorious”
Ice Spice’s vocals from her 2023 interview with Zane Lowe set the vibe on “Glorious,” a New York drill-inspired banger that finds Drake in the same bag he was in for his admirable effort against KDot, “Family Matters.” Here, without the weight of an ongoing war of words, we get a reminder that these are the beats Drake raps best over. Ice Spice told Rolling Stone in her cover story last summer that she hoped to one day work with Drake, who she described as a major inspiration. “We talk, but we never really was on some bestie shit,” she said. Drake clearly took some inspiration from her, interpolating her flow and even adopting a few of her most quotable lines.
Drake Experiments With Pop
If the rap world stays icy on Drake, he’s surely got enough range to figure something else out. “Die Trying” feels like a bona-fide pop crossover hit, replete with an infectious acoustic guitar and paired nicely with PND’s soaring, elastically rhythmic vocals. For all of the allegations that Drake’s lyrical content feels stale, “Die Trying” has the kind of forlorn sensibility that suggests more self-awareness than some of Drake’s critics give him credit for. Sort of like a depressed Noah Kahn, Drake laments his self-inflicted loneliness and manages to turn it into a breezy pop hit.
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Drake Featuring Drake
PartyNextDoor’s presence is somewhat muted on the album, billed as a collaboration between the two, though he appears often enough for it not to feel too heavy-handed in Drake’s direction. Still, the album does feel like Drake taking center stage. So much so that he even samples himself on “$piderman $uperman,” flipping the beat for “The Real Her,” from Take Care towards the track’s close. The move reads as a subtle flex but also a nod to the longevity of Drake’s career thus far. Almost as if to remind listeners of the classic records that made him such a success to begin with.
We Head Back to The Nokia Era
The album’s most memorable track will likely end up being “Nokia,” an infectious club0-ready hit that finds Drake at his most potent. It was his New Orleans bounce-infused hit “Nice For What” that helped wash the taste of his beef with Pusha T from the public’s consciousness, and “Nokia,” which rides a vintage funk bounce to impressive effect, feels like Drake’s best bet at a similar response to his latest dust-up. Already, streamers like Kai Cenat and Plaqueboymax have gone viral reacting positively to the track, and even the staunchest Drake haters gotta admit it’s pretty good. Whether it’ll be enough to reset the narrative set by “Not Like Us” is another story, but it’s a solid effort from an already iconic artist beginning to show flashes of a reinvigorated new era.
