Drake returned on April 7 with his first official release of 2023: “Search & Rescue.” The relatively low-key new single arrives with a relaxed pace, a sung-rapped hook and an internet-baiting sample of Kim Kardashian (ex-wife, of course, of longtime rival Ye) from a Keeping Up With the Kardashians episode.
The song debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (dated April 22) — held off from the No. 1 spot by Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” in its third week atop the listing. It marks Drake’s 35th top five hit, though it obviously falls just short of the No. 1 debuts of last year’s “Jimmy Cooks” (with 21 Savage) and “Wait for U” (led by Future and also featuring Tems).
How should Drake feel about the debut? And does “Search and Rescue” instantly become a top Song of the Summer contender? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.
1. “Search and Rescue” debuts at No. 2 on the Hot 100 this week. If you’re Drake, with your track record of chart-topping success, are you good with that, or is anything outside of No. 1 inevitably a bit of a disappointment?
Rania Aniftos: I’ve thought about this topic a lot, about how sad it must be when huge stars become desensitized to an incredible accomplishment because they’ve had more success before. I can’t say for certain because I don’t know him personally, but I can imagine that Drake falls under that category. With 11 Hot 100-toppers, a No. 2 track must pale in comparison.
Carl Lamarre: I’m somewhat annoyed if I’m Drake because this is the second straight time someone blocked me from a Hot 100 No. 1 debut, and both from the pop/country worlds. Remember when Drizzy was a little salty after Taylor stymied his chances of top 10 domination with “Anti-Hero” reigning supreme? Drake, the competitor, doesn’t only enjoy slaying his rap foes — he gets pleasure from devouring the entire circuit. So seeing another megastar outshine him, especially with this being Morgan’s third week atop the food chain, should be irritating for the OVO general.
Cydney Lee: If I’m Drake, I’m fine with this especially considering his chart success over the course of his career. If anything, “Search and Rescue” seems like a one-off release — we’ve never heard Drake over a beat quite like this before — so whether the No. 2 debut is merely because it’s a Drake song or because people actually like it, it’s still a win.
Jason Lipshutz: Probably a little bit of both: for Drake, losing out on another No. 1 single — at least in its first week — by one spot is a little bit of a bummer, but the No. 2 debut of “Search and Rescue” also extends his own Hot 100 records for the most hits in the top five and the top 10 of the chart (as well as most overall Hot 100 hits, of course). Those records remain wildly impressive for an artist who’s been scoring hits for less than 15 years, and every new record-extending notch on those lists makes them a little harder for another artist to someday surpass. Overall, if you’re Drake, you’ve got to feel pretty good about that.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a disappointment, although not a huge one. This is Drake, after all — he of the 11 Hot 100 No. 1s, including five already this decade, all of which debuted on top — so clearly anything short of the top spot is not gonna be to his satisfaction, especially when the song on top has already been around for a couple months. But as a standalone that doesn’t necessarily presage a larger project on the horizon — one without any features or particularly massive hooks — it’s a forgivable underperformer. He was probably much more annoyed about “Anti-Hero” blocking “Rich Flex” last November.
2. After an eventful 2022 — a polarizing dance detour in Honestly Nevermind, a s–t-stirring 21 Savage teamup with Her Loss, collabs with Beyoncé and Future — does “Search and Rescue” tell you anything about where his head or sound are at in 2023, or does it feel more like a stopgap?
Rania Aniftos: If I were Drake in this situation, with a 15-year career under my belt, I’d also be trying out different genres and approaches to music to see what sticks after all this time. “Search and Rescue” feels like a temperature gauge, to see how fans might react to a more chilled-out version of himself. If it sticks, we might get a whole album with a similar feel.
Carl Lamarre: I don’t want to say Drake is uninspired, but if you think about some of his recent releases… he’s not entirely throwing paint at a blank canvas and calling it art, but he’s searching for inspiration. This is why he needs to stop, breathe, and enjoy a much-deserved vacation. Hiatuses allow artists to come back stronger than ever with untold experiences that will enrich the listening experience for fans.
Cydney Lee: Kind of a stopgap. “Search and Rescue” sounds like the product of producer BNYX running into Drake, both agreeing get in the studio, and recording this in five takes or less. Not necessarily a no-effort track, but Drake has an affinity for linking with lesser-known artists/producer and giving them a major look. BNYX has already found success with Yeat, so this is cool for him — and his production style is distinct, so whether him and Drake connected or not, it’s probably a matter of time until he becomes a go-to producer. I’d honestly like to hear a few more Drake/BNYX tracks and “Search and Rescue” seems like they’re testing the waters.
Jason Lipshutz: “Search and Rescue” may very well be a stopgap, since it’s not tethered to some larger project as of now… but I also suspect that this is where Drake is headed, splitting the difference between vulnerable crooning and hard-as-nails rapping after separating those two sides of his artistry into a pair of distinct projects last year. The new single sounds like Honestly, Nevermind Drake swooping in on an eerie beat intended for Her Loss and hijacking the vibe; he raps in a singsong cadence about wanting to end his playboy ways and actually commit to a relationship, trapped between two worlds thematically and stylistically. After releasing a pair of contrasting projects in 2022, Drake sounds like he’s in a state of transition, and is interested in capturing that state on record.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a stopgap. This is practically Drake on auto-pilot; hell, if you told most casual fans that this was just a revived deep cut from the back end of Certified Lover Boy (or hell, Scorpion or even Views) they’d probably believe you. (If they didn’t know the timestamp on the Keeping Up With the Kardashians sample, anyway.)
3. Drake has been a regular Song of the Summer contender on the Billboard charts for the past decade and a half, even earning the top distinction in 2016 (“One Dance”) and 2018 (“In My Feelings”). Do you see “Search and Rescue” throwing its hat in the ring for 2023, or will it have faded out by the time we reach the warmest months on the calendar?
Rania Aniftos: “Search and Rescue” feels too emotional to be a summer song for me, but knowing Drake and his frequency of releases, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a more upbeat, “Hot Boy Summer” type of track by the time the weather heats up.
Carl Lamarre: After three or four listens, it’s pretty catchy but not enough to carry an entire summer. That’s a disservice to The Boy because he’s a proven marksman who comes alive between June and August. His cobra clutch on the game in 2018 was strong because of “Nice For What,” “In My Feelings,” etc. “Search and Rescue” is nowhere near those hits, but he’s still more than capable of doling out a summer heater before June.
Cydney Lee: Honestly, I think it will fade. Twitter seemed to have mixed reviews about the track, but this style of production is an acquired taste. You either like it, you don’t or you eventually come around to it. “Search and Rescue” is palatable to the youth, but on a larger scale, the sound isn’t there for mass appeal. I can already hear my parents saying, “This is Drake?!”
Jason Lipshutz: Depends on a few things: whether or not Drake has more to release over the next two months, whether or not he throws his full promotional weight behind “Search and Rescue,” and perhaps most importantly, whether or not we get an uptempo remix. If Drake drops another single in May or June, then “Search and Rescue” is probably out of summer-song contention… but if this becomes his priority for summer, getting played across all of his summer arena shows, and he delivers a tempo-pushing rework of the track, then we’ve got a heavyweight entering the ring. Imagine Lil Uzi Vert attacking a sped-up version of this beat! Maybe Kim Kardashian transcends the sample and adds a few original lines! Depending on how Drake plays this, “Search and Rescue” could be a major player in popular music over the next few months.
Andrew Unterberger: Seems a little unlikely, to be honest — the song has already been passed on the real-time Spotify and Apple Music charts by releases from rising regional Mexican stars Grupo Frontera (“un x100to,” alongside Bad Bunny) and Eslabon Armado & Peso Pluma (“Ella Baila Sola”), and it seems for all the world like that’s going to be the primary sound of this summer. You can never totally count out Drake from this discussion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he released another grabbier contender in the next month or two anyway.
4. The Kim Kardashian sample: tired or inspired?
Rania Aniftos: Tired! I understand it fits with the theme of the song, but haven’t we had enough of exploiting women for clickbait?
Carl Lamarre: Tired. Drizzy won the battle against Ye. He bodied him. There’s no rhyme or reason why he wants to continue the onslaught unless something behind the scenes aggravates him. It was a great conversation-starter leading up to the record’s release but didn’t pack enough punch to be considered an instant classic.
Cydney Lee: Tired. He’s 36.
Jason Lipshutz: Tired — not because it’s gimmicky, but because it slows down the momentum of the song. “Search and Rescue” glides along with melodic panache, and the hypnotic effect of the hook blending into the verses gets upended by the dialogue. If the sample had simply been positioned as the song’s intro instead of being jammed into its center, I’d bet it works beautifully — but as it stands, its placement feels too abrupt.
Andrew Unterberger: Tiiiiiiiiiiired. It actually works better within the song than I might’ve expected, but… enough, man, enough. This rivalry never had nearly as much juice to it as its principals or their respective rabid fanbases wanted it to, and stoking it like this in the year 2023 just makes Drake look desperate.
5. With Honestly Nevermind earning mixed reviews and lukewarm commercial returns, Drake might be done with hard swerves for the time being — but if he did feel like switching things up again in 2023, what would be your brilliant outside-the-box idea for a new Drake single or album?
Rania Aniftos: Is it bad to say that I don’t think he should swerve at all anymore? Honestly, Nevermind Drake doesn’t sit as well with fans in comparison to Views and Scorpion Drake, so why fix what’s not broken? My “brilliant, outside-the-box idea” (if you would even call it that) might be to return to his roots and give fans their lover boy, Instagram caption-inspiring Drake, which seems like he’s heading toward that with “Search and Rescue.”
Carl Lamarre: I want him to take a break, honestly. As much of a s–t-starter Her Loss was, it was a fire album. Maybe he can find inspiration during his tour with Savage, but I want him to return hungrier and inspired. We’ve gotten so spoiled with Drake’s reign that we don’t realize its adverse effects on the game. We have yet to find a big three ready to supersede Drizzy, Kenny, and Cole in this decade and we need this time to figure out who will take the reins. If those three sit out entirely, we can better gauge who those potential superstars are.
Cydney Lee: Not too far outside the box but I’m craving an all-singing album. I love singing Drake.
Jason Lipshutz: Drake has never done a full-on R&B project, even though he’s put out enough quality R&B songs to fill a best-of compilation. Is now the time? Probably not, based on where his focus seems to be on “Search and Rescue,” but if he’s pondering another Honestly, Nevermind-esque swerve, going full-on Trust Issues: The Album would be a good answer!
Andrew Unterberger: Here’s one: How about a single with a female collaborator? Despite once being a regular co-star of pop peers like Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, the only time women artists seem to appear in Drake’s hits these days is as punchlines. At the very least, if he’s going to insist on playing the romantic heel, he could do so in a fun way that actually serves the culture — like, say, showing up as the titular Lying Boy in a new spin on PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s 2023 smash.
