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Drake · S5 E2
Hold On, We're Going Home
An 80s synth-pop love song from a rapper. Radio can't stop playing it
August 7, 2013. Zane Lowe premieres a new Drake single on BBC Radio 1 and the internet loses its mind, because the song sounds like it was recorded in 1985.
Drake feat. Majid Jordan, Hold On, We're Going Home (2013). Director X turns the softest pop song of the summer into a Scarface homage, with Drake playing a crime boss navigating neon-lit streets to rescue his girlfriend.
Hold On, We're Going Home, Drake feat. Majid Jordan (2013)
Nineteen85 builds the track from a shimmering synth pad that sounds pulled straight from a Michael Jackson deep cut, with a warm bassline and drums programmed to feel live. Drake sings the entire song without a single rap verse. The secret weapon is Majid Jordan, two University of Toronto students whose layered harmonies float underneath every chorus and give the song its airless, floating quality. Listen for how Drake's voice sits just below the mix instead of on top of it, like he's confessing rather than performing.
The OVO Assembly Line
By mid-2013, OVO Sound wasn't just Drake's vanity label. It was a functioning hit factory. Majid Jordan, PartyNextDoor, and Nineteen85 were all signed and producing music that fed directly into Drake's albums. The kid from Degrassi was building a roster the way Berry Gordy built Motown.
“I got my eyes on you, you're everything that I see. I want your hot love and emotion endlessly.”
— Drake, "Hold On, We're Going Home," 2013
The Crossover
"Hold On, We're Going Home" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top five in multiple countries. It was the rare Drake single that your parents could love. Radio stations that never touched rap put it in heavy rotation, sitting comfortably between Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake.
TAP TO REVEAL: How did two college students end up on the biggest pop song of 2013?
University of Toronto, Toronto
Where Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman were studying music when Noah "40" Shebib found their SoundCloud page and changed their lives.
Hold On, We're Going Home: The Numbers
Which 1980s film inspired the "Hold On, We're Going Home" music video?
Furthest Thing, Drake
From Nothing Was the Same. This track captures the duality of the album better than anything else Drake recorded that year. It begins as a hazy, atmospheric R&B lullaby, then flips into aggressive 808-driven rapping at the halfway mark. Where "Hold On, We're Going Home" is pure pop commitment, "Furthest Thing" is Drake refusing to pick a lane.
Furthest Thing, Drake (2013)
Read the lyrics while you listen. "I think I've been scared of giving myself to someone lately." The first half is vulnerability. The second half is armor.
The Message
"Hold On, We're Going Home" proved something Drake's critics didn't want to admit: he could make a pure pop song that didn't need a rap verse, a feature, or a gimmick. The kid who used to defend his right to sing on rap tracks had stopped asking for permission. He just made the song he wanted and let the world catch up.
Drake has the pop hit, but the rappers are still waiting for proof he can go bar for bar. Next: a six-minute love letter to the Wu-Tang Clan that silences every last doubt.
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