Aubrey Drake Graham, known by fans as Drake, is back with a new song called “Falling Back” that sounds a bit different than you’d expect.
If you’ve ever heard the 35-year-old rapper’s music, you know that he has a distinct style, one that includes rap, trap, hip-hop and R&B. But this time around, Drake leans heavily on pop and electronica vibes, as well as a message that focuses on self-reliance in the midst of emotional vulnerability.
Drake acknowledges that he has been working hard to be emotionally vulnerable, while also hiding his true emotions and thoughts from those with whom he doesn’t feel comfortable (Finding myself/Showing myself/Guardin’ myself while I’m all on display”).
But he says that no matter how much he tries to be vulnerable, there is someone in his life, seemingly a woman, who doesn’t understand how hard he is trying and takes his efforts for granted. It seems she doesn’t feel for him the way he feels for her (“I’m still holdin’ my breath for the day that you will/See that the effort I make is too real/…I see us fadin’ away/You don’t feel nothing”).
Because of a lack of emotional reciprocity, Drake feels that it’s easier to remain distant and depend only on himself: “You don’t feel nothing/…Just like I expected, falling back on me.”
The message of emotional vulnerability versus emotional distance is nothing new for Drake. A plethora of his former works wrestle with wanting to be vulnerable with women, but feeling that he can’t. And when he tries, it backfires. Therefore, he often finds it easier to just steer clear of any form of vulnerability.
This is a problem for the singer for many reasons, and one that Drake suggests was brought on (at least in part) by trusting people who shouldn’t be trusted. But it seems that Drake knows this. And in his nearly 10-minute music video for the track, he says as much.
The video features him saying he’s “in love,” and later, at his wedding ceremony, marrying a slew of women. He’s making grim fun of himself, in essence, saying that he’s been in love so many times, given himself up so many times, that he may not understand what love and commitment really mean.
And while you could deduce that from the song, if you dug far enough, you should know that the video isn’t really that emotionally intimate itself. But, unfortunately, it does feature women in cleavage-baring dresses, twerking while the word “p-ssy” is heard in the background.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
