Work

This old school dancehall track was the idea of Boi-1da protégé producer ‘Sevn Thomas’. In an interview with Complex Magazine, he explained how positive Boi-1da reacted after Thomas played the rhythm for him, Boi-1da said: “We’re both Jamaican-Canadian. It was just something in our DNA, so it woke him up, and we started remembering all these old dancehall songs from the ’90s.” Thomas explained how everything fell in place immediately after they started working on the track, he said: “We just went with the chords, and everything sort of started coming through organically. We basically banged this track out in half an hour, and we were just jamming out because we could just feel that island vibe, and we knew that the sound of the industry is sort of shaking up its little island vibe, and we knew we were really authentic, we had the Jamaican culture, and we took it upon ourselves to hone in on that and make our new futuristic dancehall songs that we like to call the new wave. We put our heads together with that one, and then Allen Ritter killed the chords on it. Amazing process.” After that, Boi-1da sent the track to songwriter PartyNextDoor, he added: “He’s an incredible writer, and he’s Jamaican as well I think so that’s how he’s able to come up with those vibes and feels,” Thomas, Ritter, Boi-1da, and Martin Mason, and others, were staying at Drake’s house in LA for a mid-week period. Thomas described the time spent at the home as a “beat factory, everyone was sitting there working and collaborating with each other.” After Drake heard the song he loved it and decided to write and record a verse on it. Shortly after Braithwaite stayed at Rihanna’s home in Malibu, where he played her the song

Release Date: January 27, 2016

Songwriter/s: Jahron Braithwaite – Matthew Samuels – Allen Ritter – Rupert Thomas – Aubrey Graham – Robyn Genty – Monte Moir.

Label: Roc Nation – Westbury Road

Chart Rankings: In the US, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, Dance Club Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the Rhythmic Charts. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it 6 times Platinum for sales over 1.7 million copies. In the UK, it topped the R&B Charts and reached number 2 on the Official Charts Company. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it Double Platinum for selling almost 2 million copies. ‘Work’ topped many charts around the world including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and South Africa. It reached the top 10 charts in Australia, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. ‘Work’ was certified Diamond in France, Quadruple Platinum in Sweden, Triple Platinum in Italy, Double Platinum in Australia, New Zealand and Spain, and Platinum in Belgium, Denmark and Poland.

Artist’s age on Release Date: Robyn Rihanna Fenty was 28 years old and Aubrey Drake Graham was 30 years old when they released this song.

Cover Versions: Conor Maynard – Shaun Reynolds & Emma – Paris Inc – Samantha Harvey – William Singe – Devvon Terrell – Rain Paris & Arcaeus – Macy Kate – Jannik Bunke & Anica Russo – Glamour – Nicole Gatti – Ciuffi Rossi – Alex Aiono – The Filharmonic – Joseph Vincent – Red – Josh Levi – Will Gittens – Ceresia – Other Youtubers covered this song.