Views Highlight “Feel No Ways” Is Peak Drake
It wouldn’t be a Drake album without him returning to Toronto to discover that a woman has a life beyond her relationship to him. He’s always come off as entitled about sex, but that isn’t much different from most men. What makes Drake’s arguments intriguing is the language, the backhanded way he tries to guilt trip women into lusting after him, prodding into their lives by proclaiming himself a casualty of his lavish lifestyle. What makes them approachable is how wholeheartedly he believes in his own innocence.
Drake is the supposed Nice Guy in the DMs of Instagram models wondering why he’s been friend-zoned in favor of womanizer types. There are few instances where he’s been more blunt about it than on Views highlight “Feel No Ways,” the record’s most infectious pop moment. “Feel No Ways” is about that very discernible shift in tone when a lover becomes an ex and the fondness stops. The body language is different, cautious and more distant. The body chemistry changes, with dopamine flowing listlessly in cold blood.
Originally teased on Vine, “Feel No Ways” is written in snapshots and captions, trying to make sense of new tensions. Drake is in full crooner mode here. “Maybe we should have just did things my way,” he quips, but what’s lost in this train of thought is that he’s the one who opted out: “I had to let go of us to show myself what I could do.” Produced by Majid Jordan’s Jordan Ullman, the synths invoke the duo’s signature electronic R&B with clattering hi hats pressed against warm chords that seep into one another—these swelling beats wouldn’t have felt out of place on Blood Orange‘s Cupid Deluxe. “Feel No Ways” is a nuanced record tied ever so finely at the seams. It navigates the same heavenly pop bliss as “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” but this time Drake is going back to the 6 to spend some time alone.
[Listen to “Feel No Ways” on Apple Music]
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