Drake and Bad Bunny’s Gently: Canada and Puerto Rico Hit the Club

Recently, Drake has a knack for dropping records without any lead singles or hype. We have Certified Lover Boy, Honestly Nevermind, Her Loss and now For All the Dogs. I have to admit that for me Drake is like one of those spice challenge bags of Doritos. There are bunch of normal chips, but two or three chips in the bag that will melt your face. For all of Drake’s songs that wash over me like room temperature tap water there’s a Champagne Poetry that makes me sit up and take notice. For All the Dogs is largely the same with 90% of the record feeling like it was made of paper mache…but…then I hear Gently and re-think everything.

Tracks like First Person Shooter and All the Parties are well executed, but Gently does it for me. Musically, the track jumps back and forth from the streets of Puerto Rico to a neon soaked club. The bass and electro percussion gives the track some backbone, which is important because there is not a lot of instrumentation going on. However, the driving percussion gets you moving and does give the track a club feel.

Lyrically is where I have fun with the track. The first part of the track feels like Drake doing a presentation for his junior year Spanish class. It doesn’t quite fit the rest of the track, but it’s fun. I’m not sure why, but it hooks me in and then Drake clears his throat and drops bars about Ibiza. It’s as if he’s saying “ok enough of this….let’s make this happen.” The Drake I love is when he is either talking about being the underdog or being super rich and just above everything. It is his “could barely be interested because I would rather be drinking Champagne out of a goblet made of vibranium” vibe that I love. This vibe is a great fit for Bad Bunny who can simultaneously bring it and then drop it all the way down to that wearing sunglasses inside vibe. They are a great match for this track and balance each other out well.

Listening to Gently is a great vibe, even if it only runs a tick over two minutes. I do feel that if it was much longer it might overstay its welcome, but as it is, this is a fun shot of energy on a largely heavy record. I hope that Drake and Bad Bunny do more work together, because they compliment each other well.

Listen to Gently