A Closer Look at Interludes and Why Drake Is So Good at Them
I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a tracklist featuring an interlude I can’t wait to get to it.
Interludes have a way of breathing fresh air in the middle of an album. Allowing a separation from the tracks before it, and the tracks still to come.
But what is it about interludes that makes them so special?
I find more than a few barely register past the minute mark, yet turn out to be the most beautiful tracks on the album.
I wondered recently where this thing with interludes started, and what inspires artists to use them?
Hence, my reason for writing this piece. So tag along as we examine these dudes called interludes. Yeah?
Interlude Origins
Interludes are reported to have first appeared in music in 1853, defined at the time as, “An instrumental piece played between the verses of a psalm or hymn, or in the intervals of a church-service, etc (CJR).”
Over time, music projects have continued to follow the structure of intervals placed in between a longer piece of music. Though of course no longer exclusive to religious context, as they now exist across different settings and occasions.
Transitions
Today, one of the ways interludes work are as transitions. Oftentimes creating a shift in both the narrative and the emotional tone of the project.
One such artist who has exceptional use of the interlude is Drake (yes, yes, I know, love him or hate him, dude’s a beast). In his hard-hitting, If You’re Reading It’s Too Late from 2015, Drake’s first half is an all out shooting range, snipping any and all would be “rappers” and opps (opposition) who dare cross him.
But, track 10 of 17 starts, “Wednesday Night Interlude,” and he puts his guns away. He shifts to what many call the “Emotional” or “Singing” Drake. The Drake that both breaks ladies hearts and makes them swoon. Tagging along is artist PARTYNEXTDOOR to ease in those R&B vibes that are ill-present in the first half, but help transition to the albums “softer” less aggressive latter half.
Interludes like this one sometimes end up being one of the best tracks on an album, and that’s exactly the case here.
Pauses
Another way interludes bring out something special in an album is because they are quite literally a pause in the experience. Of course, not just an empty track of silence (which I’m sure those exist) but they’re almost like cutting the lights out in a joint, flashing a spotlight on a lone singer, and waiting for them to croon away.
Drake does this very thing on his recent album, Certified Lover Boy (CLB for short), when 11 tracks in, he hits pause, dims the light, and allows singer, Yeba, to croon away on “Yebba’s Heartbreak.” The mellow sound of her playing the piano is the only musical instrument we hear. No deep bass or muffled production as we’ve heard in the tracks prior. It’s a literal pause in the fun, and to let out the sentimental notes to underscore the emotional core of the album.
The thing about Yebba’s placement too is it caps off the theme of the 3 tracks prior, all which deal with Drake’s trouble with women.
On “Pipe Down,” he argues about how much he’s done for his love in the past, to which he doesn’t understand how that person could be yelling at him. Then on “Yebba,” she quite literally poses the question, “How much better, can I show my love for you?” As if to be speaking through her, he hits pause, slows things down, and pleads for peace, an answer.
Of course then shifting to the grittier Drake in the tracks afterward — working as interludes do as the pause and transition.
Outro on Interludes
I don’t hear people talk much about interludes and their role in music. Just from discussions I’ve seen across YouTube and Twitter, people have an appreciation for them. But I wonder what else has been said of their function within the broader work of a project? How they work, and what inspires them.
Hopefully, if you never paid much attention to them you give them a closer listen and hopefully don’t skip to the next track. They very much inform the entirety of a project and are placed their for a reason, not just as filler.
Well, artists, you guys just don’t place it as filler do you?
Thanks for reading everybody.
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