One Dance
"One Dance" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake from his fourth studio album Views (2016). It features guest vocals from Nigerian afrobeats artist Wizkid and British singer Kyla.[2] The artists co-wrote the dancehall and afrobeats song with its co-producers Nineteen85 and Noah "40" Shebib, with production assistance from Wizkid.[3][4] Crazy Cousinz and Kyla received songwriting credits for the sampling of their 2008 UK funky song "Do You Mind".[5]
"One Dance"
April 5, 2016
2015
2:53
- Aubrey Graham
- Paul Jefferies
- Ayodeji Balogun
- Noah Shebib
- Errol Reid
- Luke Reid
- Kyla Smith
- Corey Johnson
- Logan Sama[1]
"One Dance" was released for digital download on April 5, 2016, and was serviced to US urban, rhythmic, and contemporary hit radio on April 12, 2016.[6][7][8] "One Dance" was released shortly after the release date for Views was announced, alongside "Pop Style". "One Dance" was the first of three dancehall singles to be released from Views, along with "Controlla" and "Too Good".[9][10]
"One Dance" reached number one in 15 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom - where it later also became the longest running top 10 single of the 2010s decade in the region, and the United States, becoming Drake's first number-one single in all 15 countries as the lead artist. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks and became the joint-second longest consecutive number one in the UK Singles Chart with 15 consecutive weeks at the summit. Featured artist Wizkid became the first Nigerian artist to (chart on and) top the US Billboard Hot 100.[11] "One Dance" became the second dancehall song of 2016 to top the Billboard Hot 100 after Rihanna's "Work" which also featured Drake.
On September 7, 2016, Billboard named "One Dance" the 2016 Song of the Summer.[12] As of December 2016, it has sold 2 million copies in the US, thus being the fifth-best-selling song of the year.[13] For Apple Music it was the best performing song of the year.[14] On October 15, 2016, "One Dance" became the most played song ever on streaming media service Spotify, with over one billion individual streams, overtaking the previous record held by Major Lazer and DJ Snake's "Lean On".[15][16][17] Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" overtook "One Dance" as the most streamed song on Spotify on September 21, 2017. "One Dance" was the best-performing single worldwide of 2016[18] and is one of the best-selling digital singles of all-time.
Background and release[edit]
In early 2016, UK funky artist Kyla was first contacted by Drake's production team regarding the use of her 2008 song "Do You Mind (Crazy Cousinz remix)", in a new afrobeats and dancehall song with Drake and Nigerian artist Wizkid,[19] whom Drake had met one year previously through British grime artist Skepta, to work on a remix of Wizkid's song Ojuelegba.[20] Drake had reportedly been a fan of Kyla's song for several years and so convinced his producer Nineteen85 to use "Do You Mind (Crazy Cousinz remix)" as a bridge within their new song.[20] "Do You Mind" was subsequently worked on by South African DJ Maphorisa who slowed down its tempo before adding Wizkid's background vocals.[21] Production of "One Dance" was finished within one week and quickly released in early April 2016 due to fear of it being leaked, as had occurred with Drake's "Controlla" (which the original version featuring Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan) was leaked onto the internet in March 2016.[19][22] In addition to Wizkid's work on "One Dance", Drake provided vocals for the Wizkid track "Come Closer", which was recorded at the same time, but released a year later in March 2017.[23]
Drake and his team were unsure over how "One Dance" would be received upon being released since they considered it to be a considerable shift from his previous work. They therefore decided on it being released jointly with the song "Pop Style", featuring The Throne (Kanye West and Jay Z), since they felt it was a more conventional rap record and would therefore cushion the criticism had it been negative.[20]
Composition and recording[edit]
"One Dance" is a dancehall,[24][25] afrobeats,[26] pop[27] and UK funky song[28] with a length of two minutes and fifty-four seconds. The song is Drake's first dancehall single as the lead artist, having previously explored the genre in his 2015 mixtape, If You're Reading This It's Too Late and in the January 2016 single "Work" with Rihanna.[29][30][20] The single marks the second time Drake has worked on an afrobeats song, having previously featured on Wizkid's "Ojuelegba (Remix)" (2015) along with British grime artist Skepta.[31]
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "One Dance" is written in the key of B♭ minor and has a tempo of 104 beats per minute in common time. The song follows a chord progression of B♭m – D♭ – E♭m, and Drake's vocals span from A♭2 to B♭3.[32]
Lack of music video[edit]
David Bakula, Nielsen's SVP of Analytics said in an interview that "If a song is going to reach that pinnacle of success, it's got to be everywhere".[60] However, the lack of a music video for "One Dance" contributed to its success in countries where YouTube streams do not influence the singles charts, such as in the UK, as those wanting to listen to "One Dance" were forced to stream it on services such as Spotify or Apple Music, which do count towards the singles charts.[61]
A scene with "One Dance" featured on the short film Please Forgive Me directed by Anthony Mandler, released on September 26, 2016, exclusively on Apple Music.[62] The short film was produced in South Africa. Material Culture, part of the country's dance battle subculture, is part of the dance crew.[63]
Performances and remixes[edit]
Drake gave his first live performance of "One Dance" on April 14, 2016, in Toronto during Rihanna's Anti World Tour.[64] Drake later promoted the song, along with "Hype" from Views, on NBC's Saturday Night Live on May 14, 2016.[65] "One Dance" was later performed during Drake's Summer Sixteen Tour (2016)[66] and was performed during his Boy Meets World Tour (2017).
A remix of the song, featuring lead vocals by Canadian singer Justin Bieber, premiered on Drake's Beats 1 radio show OVO Sound on June 4, 2016, but was never released to music outlets or mainstream music sites.[67][68]
A Greek Easter parody of the song, titled "One Lamb," was released by Greek-American parody artist So Tiri and musical artist Annet Artani on the former's YouTube channel on April 16, 2017.[69]