The newly released project consists of 21 solid tracks.
On the cover of $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, we see PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake tricked out in furry winter gear, posing in front of a pair of buildings that’ll be familiar to anyone who’s ever driven past PND’s hometown of Mississauga, on the western fringe of Toronto. Now, the Absolute World high-rise condos may not be an internationally recognised landmark on par with the CN Tower (which famously graced Drake’s 2016 blockbuster Views), but it’s a fitting visual emblem of the more low-stakes, bringing-it-all-back-home ethos that defines their first full-length collaboration. Even your grandma knows that 2024 was a rough year for Drake, so in that sense, Mississauga represents a proverbial safe space where he can recalibrate and experiment outside the limelight alongside a loyal protégé who’s stood by his side through thick and thin.
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U was originally advertised as an EP to be released on Valentine’s Day 2025, but at 21 tracks and 75 minutes, it’s more like getting a gift box of chocolates and discovering there are three more layers underneath. At the outset, the duo’s approach is to pretend 2024 never happened and lean into the singular combination of sensitivity, swagger and hyper-local referentialism that turned OVO into a rap&B empire in the 2010s. Atmospheric trap tracks like “CN TOWER” and “SOMETHING ABOUT YOU” unfurl like late-night DM threads, taking us inside the fragile psyches of celebrity rappers who pick up their dates in private jets and get them to sign NDAs, yet (as PND testifies on “LASERS”) still get easily triggered when they see an ex-boyfriend’s name tattooed on the back of their neck when they’re doing it doggystyle.
The question of whether Drake will use this platform to air out his grievances is settled partway through the album on the pugilistic “GIMME A HUG”, where he comes out swinging at his fair-weather followers, but stops short of getting back in the ring when he declares, “Fuck a rap beef/I’m trying to get the party lit.” And from that point on, he stays true to his word, displaying the charm, humour and trendspotting savvy that’s made him a star far beyond the rap realm.
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U starts to really live up to its title with the playful Spanglish seduction of “MEET YOUR PADRE”, a collaboration with urban sierreño star Chino Pacas that sounds like a regional-Mexican spin on “One Dance”, while the delirious “NOKIA” sees Drake and PND dropping rhymes over shapeshifting ’80s-electro beats like an OVO Outkast. But perhaps the biggest surprise arrives in the form of “DIE TRYING”, an irresistibly melodic, countrified confessional that’s of a piece with acoustic alt-pop anthems like Post Malone’s “Circles” and Clairo’s “Bags”—and which suggests the most effective way to move beyond a rap beef is to move beyond rap entirely.
