Keep the Family Close is a representation of Drake at his strongest artistically: moody, heartbroken, betrayed. The sound of wind and the sudden grand instrument in between verses makes me feel like I’m walking home on the coldest winter night, and I got hit in the face with a chilly gust. Drake’s tone is incredibly distraught, sad, and regretful, and his vocals are incredibly smooth, the song goes through your veins and sends chills through you. He sings about his regret putting trust into friends and romantic partners that were never really there for him at his lows, and that he should’ve invested that time into his family who can’t abandon him because of shared blood. The chorus goes: “All of my ‘let’s just be friends’ are friends I don’t have anymore; How can you not check on me when things go wrong?; Guess I should’ve tried to keep my family closer, much closer.”
This song got me through an extremely painful falling out with former friends, which happened to take place in the winter. In short, my two best friends and I all agreed that the other three members of our friend group didn’t really have our backs or have our best interests in mind. This took months to come to terms with, as these were people that I considered the most important, and pushed other people aside for, including my siblings. What was also painful was how I had been very vulnerable around them, and knowing that they knew so much about me, yet wouldn’t be there to support me, made me feel like I was placed in front of millions of people, expected to give a speech about something I knew nothing about. Keep the Family Close made me feel seen on those cold nights, where I felt hurt, regretful, and naive.
Drake has been a part of my life since I was eight years old. His music has been the soundtrack to my life ever since I can remember, and him having a song I could relate to in my emotional, angsty teenage moments made it all worthwhile. Now, I’ve learned many lessons about friendships since, and as Drake’s career progresses (he just dropped album of the year), it feels wholesome to learn those lessons with him.
I like the description you added of how you felt when you listen to a certain part of the song. You describe what emotion Drake is feeling and portraying through the song. Also how you’re able to connect the song to what you felt through the falling out. The description of you felt allows people to feel what you felt.