Drake Names Taylor Swift In New Song, 4 Years After Her Lover Shoutout

Sorry, Swifties. Despite years of hoping and speculating, Drake and Taylor Swift are unfortunately not collaborating — at least not yet. On Thursday, however, the rapper gave fans the next best thing: shout his love for Swift in his latest single, “Red Button.”

Drake’s New Single “Red Button”

In his new song, which dropped on Nov. 16, Drake fully namechecks the “Bejeweled” singer. Rapping about her in verse, he sings: “Only one could make me drop the album just a little later / Rest of y’all, I treat you like you never made it.”

As fans may recall, the rapper is referencing their friendly competition that happened in 2022.

Both artists were slated to release highly-anticipated albums within a week of each other; Swift released Midnights on Oct. 21, while Drake was supposed to release Her Loss, in collaboration with 21 Savage, on Oct. 28.

Fans were surprised when Drake postponed his album release for a week, dropping it on Nov. 4 instead. While it was initially reported that the delay was due to producer Noah “40” Shebib’s bout with COVID, which slowed production, the song hints at another reason for the wait: Swift.

After Midnights’ release, both Swift’s album and single “Anti-Hero” dominated the Billboard charts for weeks, giving cause for Drake to pause his own. When he did drop Her Loss, however, it took Midnights’ top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Drake & Taylor’s Long Friendship

It’s no surprise that Drake paid tribute to Swift, as the two have been longtime friends.

Since they reportedly met at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2013, they’ve been cheekily honoring each other in their projects. Drake even admitted to rocking a Swift T-shirt in 2010, proving he’s a Swiftie lifer.

For instance, both starred in Apple Music commercials in 2016, each working out to the other’s songs; Swift to Drake’s “Jumpman” in April and him to “Bad Blood” in his November ad.

Drake’s recent shoutout isn’t the first time the friends paid tribute to each other in lyrics either. Swift started it by naming Drake in her 2019 Lover track “I Forgot That You Existed.” She referenced the rapper’s 2018 hit “In My Feelings” when she sang the line, “In my feelings more than Drake.”

In 2022, the rapper posted a now-deleted photo with Swift, with the caption, “They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work.” The years-long nods to each other prompted a frenzy among Swifties and Team Drizzy fans alike, leading to theories that the two were hinting at a collab.

“Red Button” is no featured track, but it’s a sweet gesture nonetheless. Fans will just have to wait for that team-up.