Energy

Energy is the song where Drake fully commits to the aggrieved, exhausted-warlord persona that would carry If You're Reading This It's Too Late. Produced by Boi-1da and Vinylz, the track moves on a knocking, sparse beat with metallic percussion and the kind of negative space that lets Drake's syllables hit twice. The verses are widely read as a running inventory of the categories of people Drake feels are siphoning his attention — friends, family, label peers, fake fans — without naming names. The chorus's flat, unbothered cadence quickly became one of the most-quoted Drake refrains on social media. Released alongside IYRTITL in February 2015 as one of the project's lead-tracks, the song became a Hot 100 hit despite the album-mixtape's surprise drop and unconventional rollout. The Director X-directed video, which features impressions of Oprah, Miley Cyrus, and others, doubles as a one-off comedic showcase. Energy is often pointed to as the song that announced Drake's mid-decade competitive recalibration ahead of Meek Mill, Beanie Sigel, and the wider wave of 2015 confrontations.