MTV: Drake's Thank Me Later was produced mostly by his trusted collaborator Noah "40" Shebib, but the Toronto lyricist ventured into the studio with an array of hip-hop beatsmiths for his debut, from Swizz Beatz to Kanye West.
One standout on the project was indie-rock act Francis and the Lights. Frontman Francis Farewell Starlite produced the second song on Thank Me Later, the muted "Karaoke."
After he signed on to tour with Drake, Starlite was asked by the rapper's camp if he had any music available. Starlite struggled while trying craft the right number, before ultimately deciding to give up a track he was saving for himself.
The result was a minimalist number on which Drake deftly mixes soft crooning before building up into a straightforward rap about a relationship gone awry. "I remember when you thought I was joking/ Now I'm off singing karaoke, further than I ever been," Drake sings. "So if you gotta go, if there's any way I can help."
The song parallels material more likely to be on a Francis and the Lights project than anything in a retailer's rap bin. Starlite said Drake didn't tweak the music much, but admitted the Young Money star's vocals gave the song a vitality it initially lacked.
"He made it better, unquestionably, from what I had," the singer said. "And that's a good feeling. He made it very personal, but making some very subtle changes and doing his thing on it, obviously, with the verses. He actually made it make sense in a way that didn't make sense to me before."
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