If there's one thing that you can always count on with Drake, it's that he's going to be brutally, sometimes uncomfortably honest in his lyrics. Whether he's taking down another artist with a diss track, discussing his regrets, or just opening up about the struggles he's been facing in his life, it seems like pretty much everything is on the table. And the four new songs that Drake released over the weekend are no exception; in particular, the lyrics to Drake's "Fake Love" seem to be an acknowledgement of how exhausting it is to be famous. Sure, it's nice to have all this positive energy and attention flowing your way nonstop, but, at the end of the day, how can you tell who's real and who's fake?
The way Drake talks about it in "Fake Love," it sounds like it gets harder, not easier, to the point where it can throw you into a depression, a topic that Drake jumps right in on in the hook:
I've been down so long it look like up to meThey look up to meI got fake people showin' fake love to meStraight up to my face, straight up to my face
Oof, that's so familiar, that sensation of your depression is becoming the norm, so that you can't remember what it was like to be out of it. It gives me a rush of sympathy for how much worse all those little anxieties and insecurities must be when you're famous; everything is magnified and in front of an audience. No thank you.
Somethin' ain't right when we talkin'Look like you hidin' your problemsReally you never was all inNo you can't son me, you won't never get to run me
In the verse, Drake describes talking to people who aren't interested in who he is, just what he is. He can tell in their face that they were never truly invested. From women who were never "all in" on relationships to more authoritative types who just want a piece of Drake's career, he's on to all of them.
Just when sh*t look out of reach, I reach back like one, threeLike one, three, yeah
This is a reference to Odell Beckham Jr., who wears the number 13, and made an impossible-looking catch for the New York Giants during a 2015 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Drake calls out all those people smiling in his face, when he can tell that all they really want is to take advantage of him, and warns that they're not fooling anybody.
Yeah, straight up to my face, tryna play it safeVibe switch like night and day, I can see it like right awayI came up, you changed up, I caught that whole playSince then, things never been the same
The sad thing is, it sounds like, at this point, Drake has lost trust in even some of those early people, whom he was sure would be genuine. The moment he got famous, things changed irreversibly, and it seems like part of him is longing to go back to that time even though he knows that things can never be the same. It's one of those things that you have to exchange for fame.
Though I'm sure Drake doesn't regret his success, "Fake Love" is an indicator that there are some aspects of his celebrity that he would gladly give up.
