The song emotionless is off Drake’s 2018 album: Scorpion. (I’m a Scorpio myself if you were curious lol).
So, if you didn’t already know, Drake is probably the biggest recording artist of our era. Seriously, very few people are as big as Drake, and he has been dominating the charts since the last decade or so.
The album Scorpio was his 8th official studio album. I believe that artists get refined over time and their art evolves. Hence, on this album, we as fans, got to hear a much more refined Drake than we had previously heard. And songs like Emotionless are a testament to his growth as an artist.
Since it’s Drake, you already know what to expect in terms of numbers lol. Scorpio was instantly successful. It was a record-breaking hit. Seriously, the album broke some record regarding the most number of copies sold in 24 hours or something.
Love him or hate him, Drake has been doing numbers since 2009.
Emotionless
So, this song is very personal from Drake. It’s also kinda philosophical.
He touches upon a multitude of topics in this song such as, his personal life and why he likes to keep it private, the impact of social media on people, and trust issues.
The lyrics, the flow, and the subject matter of the song all are on point! This is one of my favorite songs from Drake to date.
The beat is also fire. It samples vocals from Mariah Carey, which adds an old school vibe to the song.
All in all, it’s a well-produced, well written, and most importantly, well-executed song.
It’s the best from Drake, and I am very happy with it.
Lyrics Dissect.
Ah, ah, you
You’ve got me feeling emotions
Ay, higher, oh
Ah, ah, you
You’ve got me fe
E, whoa, yes
Don’t link me
Don’t hit me when you hear this and tell me your favorite song
Don’t tell me how you knew it would be like this all along
I know the truth is you won’t love me until I’m gone
And even then the thing that comes after is movin’ on
Drake gets to the point relatively early in the song lol. He mentions all those people who just want to be his ‘friends’ because he is successful. He sends out a clear message that if you were not with him at the beginning of his journey as an artist (during the hard times), then you don’t deserve to be among his close ones. He says, he clearly sees the motives behind people who want to use him, and they will forget him as soon as he stops being successful.
I can’t even capture the feeling I had at first
Meetin’ all my heroes like seein’ how magic works
The people I look up to are goin’ from bad to worse
Their actions out of character even when they rehearse
Workin’ in the land of the free, the home of the brave
I gotta bring my brothers or else I feel out of place
Breakin’ speed records on roads that these niggas paved
And they don’t like that, it’s written all on they face
I don’t know how I’ma make it out of here clean
Can’t even keep track of who plays for the other team
Iconic duos rip and split at the seams
Good-hearted people are takin’ it to extremes
Leavin’ me in limbo to question what I believe
Leavin’ me to ask what’s their motive in makin’ peace
Leavin’ me to not trust anybody I meet
Leavin’ me to ask is there anybody like me?
Here Drake mentions his disappointment in his ‘heroes’ when he became successful and saw what goes on behind the scenes. He mentions that at the beginning of his career, he was a fan, he was excited but as he has grown older and successful, he is starting to feel jaded. He saw that his favorite artists aren’t as great as he thought they were. That they don’t even write their own songs (ironic from Drake lol). And it made him feel uncomfortable in many ways, seeing your heroes doing such “un-heroic” things.
He also makes a point to help all of his ‘brothers’, all those people who came up with him because they are loyal to him. Drake has always mentioned that loyalty is very important to him, and consequently, he says that he feels incomplete if he doesn’t take care of his real friends and family. If he succeeds, they succeed too.
To which he adds that he has been involved in a lot of rap beefs (aka “fights”) over the years. And sometimes people take it to extremes, such as talking about someone’s family in a diss song or worse yet, physically harming the other person. Now, when that happens, he questions himself if he will do the same to them or become the bigger person? And he admits that at times it becomes hard not to act impulsive and do something he would later regret.
You’ve got me fe
E, whoa, yes
Ah, ah, you
You’ve got me fe
E, whoa, yes
Aye
Missin’ out on my years
There’s times when I wish I was where I was
Back when I used to wish I was here
Missin’ out on my days
Scrollin’ through life and fishin’ for praise
Opinions from total strangers take me out of my ways
I try and see who’s there on the other end of the shade
Most times it’s just somebody that’s underage
That’s probably just alone and afraid
And lashin’ out so that someone else can feel they pain
I always hear people complain about the place that they live
That all the people here are fake and they got nothin’ to give
‘Cause they been starin’ at somebody else’s version of shit
That makes another city seem more excitin’ than it is
I know a girl whose one goal was to visit Rome
Then she finally got to Rome
And all she did was post pictures for people at home
‘Cause all that mattered was impressin’ everybody she’s known
I know another girl that’s cryin’ out for help
But her latest caption is “Leave me alone”
I know a girl happily married ’til she puts down her phone
I know a girl that saves pictures from places she’s flown
To post later and make it look like she still on the go
Look at the way we live
I wasn’t hidin’ my kid from the world
I was hidin’ the world from my kid
From empty souls who just wake up and look to debate
Until you starin’ at your seed, you can never relate
Breakin’ news in my life, I don’t run to the blogs
The only ones I wanna tell are the ones I can call
They always ask, “Why let the story run if it’s false?
You know a wise man once said nothin’ at all
I’m exhausted and drained, I can’t even pretend
All these people takin’ miles when you give ’em an inch
All these followers but who gon’ follow me to the end
I guess I’ll make it to the end and I’ma find out then
This is the last verse of the song, and probably the most potent one. Here Drake talks about how people are affected by social media these days. People spend so much of their time and energy in trying to impress others on social media. They will do things that don’t even make them happy, just to get a few likes from people they barely even know. Drakes says it’s sad how people have become these days.
To which he adds that a lot of people feel unsatisfied with their lives. They think they are not lean enough, rich enough, popular enough, or cool enough just because they are looking at other people’s social media posts. But he mentions that what you see on social media is an illusion of reality. Social media makes things more exciting than they actually are. Hence, he implies that people would be happier with their lives only if they realized the truth behind those Instagram posts.
Then the analogy of the girl going to Roam and just taking pictures to impress people at home, instead of enjoying herself is so true. It almost felt like he was talking to me lol. It’s something we all struggle with. Also, a very clever bit of songwriting I must say.
He also addresses something very important. He addresses why he did not share the news of his child with the world and kept it a secret. He says that, instead of hiding his child from the world, he was hiding the world (which so cold and full of harsh comments from strangers) from his child. He did not want this child to be a target of all those celebrity media outlets, saying potentially hurtful things about his newborn child. To which he adds that he doesn’t expect people to understand his decisions because most of them had never had a child themselves, “Until you starin’ at your seed you can never relate”. He acted as a father, not as a celebrity. This might also be a cover-up for him having a child with a porn star but, he had suffered enough because of it, so we will not talk about that lol. I feel bad for Drake.
Then he finishes off by giving some wisdom at the end. He says that he doesn’t try to correct false stories about him on the internet, you know those celebrity magazines trying to make everything seem sensational about an artist’s life. Drake doesn’t address false stories that those magazines publish about him because, he says that if you respond to them, it makes the story even bigger. And it gives more attention to the magazines in the first place. That’s what they want in the first place.
Hence, “You know, a wise man once said notin’ at all”.
Damn those were some heavy bars!
Conclusion
I enjoyed this song a lot! This is one of the best songs from Drake for me personally, because of the subject matter and lyricism.
Honestblogs 