What in the course correction is this?
Either Morgan Wallen is dipping into hip-hop or Drake is dipping into country music. Or both statements can be true at the same time, as the music superstars suggested with the launch of Drake’s new music video, “You Broke My Heart.”
The breakup song — which repeats the lyric “f— my ex” — debuted last week on the “God’s Plan” emcee’s platforms and features the two musicians sharing a swanky meal while trash-talking their exes.
Said exes make an appearance a few minutes into the video, blowing up the Mercedes (“Does Mercedes make a hearse?” Drake raps) in which Drake and Wallen leave the restaurant. And that’s all we see of the hip-hop and country stars — whose albums were among Spotify’s most-streamed this year — for the remainder of the six-minute video.
What we do see are the women (Grace Matthews and Taylor Morris) gleefully celebrating the demise of Wallen and Drake. They sing along to “You Broke My Heart” after the men presumably die in the explosion, fire crackling and emergency sirens blaring while they essentially dance on the musicians’ graves.
The video was directed by Theo Skudra, and Wallen and Drake are listed as co-stars in the end credits, but little else is known about the collab.
A representative for Wallen said that “he is just in the music video,” while reps for Drake did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment.
Neither recording artist has talked much about the single aside from plugging its debut on Instagram stories. Nor does the “Last Night” singer appear to contribute musically to the Drake track. However, Big Loud partner/Chief Executive Seth England teased a potential pairing of the Republic Records artists in an interview with Billboard earlier this month. England described the prolific artist as adept at jumping genres — like Drake.
“Drake can do a hardcore R&B song, a trap rap song or a Caribbean-tinged beat global pop song,” England said. “I think Morgan is that in our genre. His voice is always going to be country even if he’s singing pop melodies, and the verses are likely to have some country imagery. But when it’s time to sing the big runs and melodies, the guy can do it. Even though he’s got a lot of older fans, he’s certainly got the young kids just wrapped around the sound right now. I don’t think that’s just a short-term thing. I think the guy’s got the ability to do that for decades to come.”
In 2021, reps from Big Loud Records told the Tennessean that Wallen was “a fan of hip-hop and rap music in addition to country.”
Wallen has previously dipped into hip-hop, joining forces with Chicago’s Lil Durk for “Broadway Girls” in 2021. Earlier this year, the “Whiskey Glasses” singer sampled Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan’s 2015 single “Lifestyle” for his track “180 (Lifestyle).”
The Drake pairing is all the more surprising given Wallen’s fall from grace and speedy recovery following his casual use of a racial slur that was caught on video in 2021. The footage resulted in the aspiring superstar’s songs being temporarily removed from radio and streaming playlists and his label suspending his contract.
But Wallen has since been “un-canceled,” winning a number of prestigious country music awards and embarking on his Dangerous Tour in 2022. This year, he hit the road with the One Night at a Time Tour, which continues into 2024, when he’ll also headline at Stagecoach 2024.
In October, Drake announced that he would be taking a break from making new music to focus on health issues that have been troubling him “for years.”
