The six god Drizzy Drake has always been known for his mastery of releasing viral singles. In 2015, he debuted  “Hotline Bling,” followed by “One Dance” in 2016, “God’s Plan” and “In My Feelings” in 2018. Drake continues this legacy with his new single, “Toosie Slide,” which took the Internet by storm, inspiring dances and bringing the club home to everyone stuck during these times of social distancing. 

Following the success of his collaboration with Future, “Life is Good,” Drake released “Toosie Slide” on April 3. The track features hard-hitting 808 drums with an ominous flute solo in the background. This is combined with vocals by Drake explaining how to do the Toosie Slide. While this production combo isn’t inherently bad, the beat and lyrics seemed to be made with speed and virality being the only purposes in mind. Five years after its release, you can still catch me humming the tropical beat to Hotline Bling and almost everyone I know can rap the full hook on “In My Feelings.” However, the only memorable thing about “Toosie Slide” is these twelve words: “Right foot up, left foot slide, left foot up, right foot slide.” 

Despite the lack of musical flavor, the song still managed to top the Billboard Hot 100’s list beating out “Blinding Lights” from the Weekend’s newest album. The one redemption of this song is the dance video by Ayo and Teo that accompanied it. The duo turns the simple four-step move into something hype with them dancing in a recording studio. Inevitably, people on TikTok tried to replicate the dance. Overnight, my TikTok feed was overrun by bored people on quarantine doing the Toosie Slide challenge. Currently, over 600,000 people have used the sound to make content and #Toosieslidechallenge is one of the top hashtags on the app. 

Drake might not be one of the most creative among his contemporaries but this song is evidence of his success in marketing. This song would be low tier if it was released under normal circumstances, but Drake knew his audience and crafted a song that was able to go viral despite its lack of musical creativity. Because of this, however, “Toosie Slides” legacy will undoubtedly go from a Drake song to “that TikTok dance during Corona.”