Hotline Bling

This song finds Drake focusing on a former lover, as he recalls the late night calls from her on his cell phone: I know when that hotline bling, that can only mean one thing Drake knew when his hotline "blinged" late at night it could only be a booty call from his girl. Now Drake doesn't get those calls anymore, and it's driving him crazy. With his cell phone silent, he is mad with jealousy, wondering if she's getting freaky with someone else.

The song's instrumentation heavily samples the instrumentation of Timmy Thomas' 1972 hit "Why Can't We Live Together." Despite Drake recontextualizing Thomas' plea for universal tolerance into a lament about his ex, the R&B veteran is grateful because it means he is returning to the radio. "I was very proud to listen to what he had done with it," Thomas told Spin. "Even though he had changed the message that I had, you know, 'Why can't we live together.' But what it does is it gives me a chance for my name to be back out there, and gives me a chance to say something to the young people again. And that's what exciting about it with me."

When Drake first dropped the song, it was billed as a remix of "Cha Cha," a R&B cut from D.R.A.M. The relatively unknown Virginia singer first made headlines when Beyoncé announced on Instagram her appreciation for "Cha Cha." D.R.A.M. admitted to some frustration at the success of "Hotline Bling" after a gig at Drake's home city. "Just performed in Toronto for the first time tonight and it was bittersweet," he tweeted. "Sweet cus I'm out here sharing my music, my sound with the people. Bitter though, cus after my performance all I'm seeing is Cha Cha/Hotline Bling comparisons on my timeline. N------ want to know how I feel about that…Yeah, I feel I got jacked for my record…But I'm GOOD."