POP SONG REVIEW: "Break My Soul" vs. "Falling Back"

I think the problem is that like with Mchine Gun Kelly's gentrification of pop punk, there's so much fantastic actual house music out there that's more worth listening to. Why listen to out of touch superstars trendchasing when acts like HAII, Hannah Peel, Kelly Lee Owens, Daniel Avery have been putting out fantastic music lately.

Might be due to my being chronically online, but public opinion of Drake has been going downhill for a long time. House music has always felt like a divisive genre in the sense that it's either great or completely heinous. Also... the true star of "Break My Soul" is Big Freedia! It wouldn't have been as successful without her sample imo.

I'd rephrase the "dropping right that minute" line for Beyonce. The album still hasn't come out yet. Also there's a sudden change in framing at around 7:14.

Monkey might be a bad choice of words. I know you didn't mean it that way, but in reference to black man that might be a little yeesh.

I know you didn't mean anything malicious by it, but the "dance monkey" bit still made feel uncomfortable. If it's not too late, I would edit that out

I'm hearing a stutter/skip/repeat of "Drake" at 10:33

Singing the Gettysburg Address! Gold. So happy to see this in my inbox.

That ouija board bit was one of my favorite todd bits in a while, I loved it

Good video, but I must ask that you please remove that “dance monkey” joke. I know it wasn’t meant in that way but it can definitely be taken the wrong way

Falling Back is not a single

What you're describing in this video occurred 12 years ago on a much more radical scale. Once electropop blew up, suddenly every active R&B star was releasing housey dance music, a genre which America had so thoroughly rejected throughout the 2000s. Everyone, from Usher, to Chris Brown, to Akon, to Sean Kingston, was now putting out singles that you could play alongside Cascada.

There have been plenty of popular house revival singles over the past several years, so these songs are nowhere near as much of a shake-up as the pop-punk revival tracks were last year. If anyone is the biggest female pop star right now, it would likely actually be Dua Lipa, who, true to the early '90s house divas, isn't as known for her personal life.

I’m impressed on how half-assed Drake’s music is

There was kinda a ska come back with "She's Kerosene" by The Interuppters

I don’t see any significant issue with the dance monkey joke, it’s a very common expression. Anybody would understand what it means without jumping straight to bad connotations.

Yeah, you will absolutely want to ditch the "dance monkey" bit at around 4:17. I get the non-racist point you are making, but I cannot for the life of me think of a proper synonymic replacement phrase to not accidentally call Drake THAT.

It should also be noted that Lady Gaga also sort of fell off the mainstream and kinda with her fans after her Joanne album in 2016 (success of "Shallow" in 2018 notwithstanding) and the release of the Chromatica brought people back, which also was largely inspired by 90s house.

Here’s how you know I’m old: Drake has been a massive star for years and the first thing I still think of when I hear his name is Jerry and Elaine wavering on whether they like or hate “the Drake”…

To add to your point, I just listened to Falling Back before watching this, I watched this video, I already can't tell you what Falling Back sounds like.

I think it's interesting that last December, Grimes released her song Player of Games, which is inspired by 2000s house music. She had her follow-up single Shinigami Eyes that continued the 2000s house inspiration, but I wonder if the Drake and Beyonce house music will have her shelf the rest of the EP. Do I think Beyonce or Drake were inspired by Grimes? I highly doubt it, but I think the idea of a house/dance throwback-era has been in the works for a little while.

Would definitely reconsider the dance monkey joke. You meant it innocently of course, but it could be misinterpreted easily. Maybe nix it or lampshade it?

While this Drake album was just as boring as his other recent output, Jimmy Cooks is actually his best song in a long time (damning with faint praise maybe lol). Unlike Knife Talk, I actually don't find myself wishing it was just a 21 Savage song!

Is the audio for the Drake song fucked up, or is the song just mixed that badly? It sounds like it's being played through radio static.

As an occasional Deep House producer, I think Drake’s Sade-drenched Sophisto-Rap wanted some of that old Larry Heard revival money that the UK EDM scene seem to produce right now at the heels of Disclosure but also the 2010s Outsider House scene. Drake is a known UK-phile, so trying to get on that is beyond plausible.

In terms of quality and deserving to expand, I think Drake’s hit a low with CLB last year. It’s clear that all he is, is an AI machine that makes songs so that people can mindlessly stream his music because… he’s Drake. Also, the public has been turning against him more than you think. Not only are the negative reviews coming through more frequently, but I’ve seen (at least in my social media experience) more and more people call out the creepy stuff he’s done with underage women dating all the way back to 2010 and the most recent case being in 2019. Personally, that’s probably gonna be kept an open secret because he’s such a big name, and even if a huge news company made an article about that, it won’t affect his streams anyway unfortunately. Asides from that, there have been numerous rap tweets where people categorize who’s the GOAT, favorite, least favorite, etc., and Drake for the most part has been listed in overrated. The overexposure has probably hit a high this year, and I think people would be okay if he didn’t do anything for 2023.

i feel like falling back could work better as a childish gambino song honestly, his voice is much more suited to it than drake's thin falsetto. great video as always todd!

In the context of Beyonce making a song for the queer community, I’m surprised you didn’t specifically mention Big Freedia who adds so much to Break My Soul. (And, incidentally, was also a guest on Drake’s last truly great hit, Nice for What). Still an interesting and entertaining video as ever.

why drake decided to make a dance album because artists like pinkpanthress on tiktok were getting popular and so he will chase every trend

At first I assumed the "line of brides" in the video was sort of a Drakey way to convey that he'll keep finding failed relationships and getting remarried time after time, sort of a commentary on his inner Drake brooding or whatever. Five seconds later, the video informs me that this isn't a metaphor or symbolism, he's literally marrying all of them at the same time. For that I have no idea.

That Dance Monkey reference can very much be perceived as racist, even if you didn’t mean it that way.

7:14, awkward edit

I got the sense that musically Drake desperately wants to be The Weeknd from this episode. I very much could be wrong, but that's the first thing to come to mind when I heard that falsetto.

Around 7:13, it cuts from a shot of you to another shot of you.

I get what you were going for comparing Drake to a performing monkey but going from what's happened to other people making similar gags about other Black/mixed people before innocently, it could go very badly

there is a brief stutter on the word "Drake" at 10:33

at 15:40 the cut from one mad tv clip to the other is awkward, has a quick flash of another shot

yay ! i actually knew about these before you talked about it. lol, i'm the lone person in the "idk, the drake album is kind of interesting" lol, to me it's sounds like he was trying to make a drain gang album.. of course he's not and it's a bad Drain Gang album, but its still fascinating

Excited to hear your thoughts on some new music. Not that I dont love all your stuff, but I dont keep up with current trends or songs much.

Audio glitch at 10:32

The "dance monkey" comment may go over people's heads, and become interpreted as a racial slur

FYI for the final draft: I think "dance, monkey" (at 4:18) has a racial connotation you probably didn't intend

I saw “Break My” in the notification and thought it was a OHW episode about Matthew Wilder.