Drake Is Not Only Competing Against Taylor Swift, He’s Leveraging Her Name For Another Hit

Drake and Taylor Swift are perhaps the two biggest musicians in the world right now. Neither one needs help charting a new No. 1 album or scoring a hit single, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still want to employ clever tactics to work their way up the charts. Now, Drake is using Swift’s name to help one of his newest songs on its way to becoming a proper smash.

On Friday, November 17, Drake released six new songs, which he had announced only hours before as a collection titled Scary Hours 3. What was initially expected to be a standalone EP–as was the case with the first two in that series–ended up actually being a deluxe edition of his recent album For All The Dogs.

Included on the Scary Hours edition of For All The Dogs is a song titled “Red Button.” The tune stands out from the others released at the same time due to one part of one verse. In the cut, Drake raps the lines: “Taylor Swift the only n**** that I ever rated / Only one could make me drop the album just a little later.”

With those lyrics, Drake is admitting that in the past, he’s moved an album so as not to compete with Swift. She can outsell anyone in the industry, and he clearly didn’t want to go up against her and lose out on another No. 1. For him to confirm this in a song is brave and surprisingly candid, but there may be another reason he decided to open up in this manner.

Shortly after the six new Scary Hours 3 songs dropped, the media quickly covered not only the music itself but the Swift reference. In fact, Drake rapping about the pop superstar became one of the hottest topics of the day. That kind of attention is incredibly valuable in the first few days that a new track or collection is out.

The headlines that centered around Drake’s name-dropping of Swift likely encouraged thousands of people, if not millions, to give “Red Button” a listen. Countless people headed to streaming sites like Spotify and AppleAAPL -0.1% Music to hear the line themselves after reading about it or seeing it mentioned on social media. Drake would have seen his new tunes perform well regardless of what he said or who he talked about, but bringing Swift into the fray certainly didn’t hurt things.

“Red Button” opened at No. 6 on Spotify’s US chart for November 17, the day the tune was made available. It racked up 1.3 million streams that day alone. The song wasn’t the top start from Scary Hours 3, but it did still rank as one of the most popular cuts in the nation, beating out several other new releases from Drake.

All the streams and sales that “Red Button” earns in its first week–which are fueled, in part, by the intense attention and discussion generated by the mere mention of Swift–may make the tune a hit. “Red Button” could easily find its way to the upper reaches of the Hot 100 in a few days, along with other cuts from the newly-expanded album.

This namedropping is a smart promotional move on Drake’s part. It connects him to Swift, the hottest and most-talked-about artist anywhere, without causing any drama. His mention is respectful and fun for everyone involved, which isn’t always the case in these types of situations. It may benefit Drake the most, but Swift surely doesn’t mind the flattery she’s earned.