With little warning, Drake dropped two new songs in the form of an EP, Scary Hours. In it, he addresses two key themes: the arc of his career and the lifestyle that comes with it.
Fans did receive a small heads up from the artist in the form of an Instagram post an hour before the songs became available on streaming platforms. No cryptic hints or long lead up, Drake just hopped on his phone and wrote, "GODS PLAN AND DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY LIVE ON ALL PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE MIDNIGHT."
The first track, "God's Plan," launches straight into a synth-heavy cadence we have come to know and love from the Canadian rapper. This one might sound familiar. Earlier this month, a snippet of it was leaked to the delight of listeners everywhere.
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In the song, he reveals that with his success has come people who wish for him to fail. "I don’t wanna die for them to miss me / Guess I see the things that they wishin' on me," he sings. The song isn't completely focused on those wishing for bad things to befall him. As he looks back on the arc of his career up until this point, he takes a moment to appreciate the people who have helped him. In the second verse, he dedicates a line to give credit to and thank his friends and frequent collaborators. "Without 40, Oli, there would be no me / Imagine if I never met the broskis," sings Drake referencing his producer Noah "40" Shebib as he hits a reflective note in the first of two songs.
"Diplomatic Immunity," Drake's first solo song since last summer, follows letting listeners in on the perks and the downsides of the rapper's lifestyle. We can all imagine the benefits that come with living the life of an internationally famous performing artist. For Drake, it is the access he gets wherever he goes and the connections he has to talented artists who he knew when they were first coming up; however, nothing is perfect and rarely is it the way it appears.
The rapper sings about women trying to link themselves to his celebrity, whether it is "airing his dirty laundry" by tagging him in photos on social media or claiming they are pregnant with his child. After more than a decade in the industry, Drake has learned that you have to watch what you say and who you say it around. A lesson he references midway through the chorus-less song, "I gotta watch who I’m talkin’ to like it’s all agents."
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Last year, rumors were flying about whether Drake and Jennifer Lopez were dating around the time they were working on new music together. While Lopez said publicly that they were not together, Drake's lyric suggests otherwise. "2017 I lost a J.Lo," he confessed.
Drake began dropping hints about possible new music earlier this month, around the time a snippet of "God's Plan" was leaked, with a series of photos on Instagram of him back in a recording studio. Fans everywhere avidly speculated what this could mean for their 2018 playlists. Now, they have got two new tracks to stream to their heart's content.
Will this be all we hear from the rapper as far as solo work this year? He hasn't publicly said as much, but then again, with surprise releases, who needs to announce new music when you can just release it?
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