What people like about 'Hotline Bling', amongst many other songs, and many of the artists who make them, Drake, Big Sean, Wale, is the relating factor...I am not saying these artists are wack, there is an element of their music, I find objectionable, though. A song like 'Hotline Bling' is all about relating to people, like most pop music, through very simple and universal concepts, things that everyday people do. People see themselves as the target of the song, and this is true throughout rap, but what Drake does is widen the lens.
How many people in an upscale, bottle service downtown club on Friday night.....really move drugs? Really have their hands in the street? Not that many. How many people in the club, or just in a certain age demographic communicate with women/men through text, and have at least once had sex, based off that? Many. How many have had a previous relationship? You get the picture. It's all about relating on the widest appeal, it dumbs down the music, and it broadens it's audience. So, everyone from a 16 year old girl, to a 38 year old who works some banal white collar job, can relate directly to the song. Lowest common denomintaor sort of thing. And, parts of all of us, want to relate. We want to be desired. We want to have 'Hotline Blings', because they validate us and show that we are valued as people, sexually. And, through this song, we all validate ourselves.
This type of music is very shallow, very fleeting, very much in the moment.....and I, someone who loved rap because of the street shyt, and the way it was DIFFERENT from other genres, in that it spoke directly to you, if you grew up hustling, or playing ball on courts with no net, and saving up $3.00 in quarters to get Carls Jr. with your boys afterwards....t