Fireworks

This is the opening track from Thank Me Later, the debut album from Canadian rapper Drake. The song was produced by Drake's frequent collaborator Noah "40" Shebib and features Alicia Keys singing the hook. Drake told MTV News why this track opens the album. "The song itself is the first song on the album; I think it's the biggest indicator of what the album is gonna be like," he said. "That's why I picked that song to go first, and that's why I wrote the first verse like that. It's really where I am in my life right now. I know they're looking forward to the album, so I want them to get a feel of how the story starts off."

In Billboard magazine Drake explained this song in which he raps about his relationship with mentor Lil Wayne, a short-lived fling with pop star Rihanna and his parents' divorce. Said Drake: "I took the time on that song and every single verse to be really honest about questions that I never, ever answer. I guess the sort of fear that me and Wayne will be driven apart by the fact that I actively did gain success as an artist, and I always worry that sometimes that might drive a wedge between us, which I pray it never will and which I say in the song. In the second verse, I address the relationship that I'm often questioned about and I duck and dodge questions about it. In the third one, I talk about my parents. So really, it's just one of those songs where to listen to it in a room full of people makes me feel awkward, and that's a good thing to me. I'm really proud of that song."
The Canadian rapper concluded: "I kept having this reoccurring dream that I was standing in this field by where my uncle used to play golf and coincidentally, where my uncle played golf and where my grandfather is buried are right beside each other. I kept having this dream that I was standing in the middle of that field and watching these fireworks go off. For a really long time I was trying to figure out what it all meant, and I guess the conclusion that I came to was, I'm at a very triumphant point in my life. I think I can make a lot of things happen for not only myself but a lot of people around me."

Drake told The New York Times about his time with Rihanna, which began with an invite to pen a track for her. "I was a pawn," he said. "You know what she was doing to me? She was doing exactly what I've done to so many women throughout my life, which is show them quality time, then disappear. I was like, 'Wow, this feels terrible.'"