Hip Hop/Rap
Lykke Li thought she was being pranked when Drake asked to use I Follow Rivers
Lykke Li says she initially believed it was a joke when she heard Drake wanted to interpolate I Follow Rivers on Janice STFU, calling the song’s long life “a mysterious, incredible gift.”
Lykke Li has revealed she genuinely thought someone was winding her up when word first reached her that Drake planned to sample her 2011 dance hit I Follow Rivers for his Iceman track Janice STFU.
The 40-year-old singer explained that the news came via an email from her co‑writer Rick Nowels - and her first instinct was that it couldn’t possibly be real.
She told Rolling Stone: "I thought [Rick] was trolling me.
“Then I got the email.”
Once she realised the request was legitimate, she began to appreciate the unexpected new chapter the song was about to enter.
She said: “I think it’s potent. It has that raw, revenge, hip-hop energy."
Li reflected on the unusual journey I Follow Rivers has taken since its release - from its original form to The Magician’s remix, which turned it into a global phenomenon, and now its interpolation on a major rap album more than a decade later.
She said: “I mean, it is the most mysterious, incredible gift of my career because it’s had so many lives and different iterations.
“With certain songs, there’s an alchemy or symmetry to them that allows them to have their own life in the world. And as a songwriter, that’s the greatest wish. I’m so grateful and blessed to have one of those songs that doesn’t even belong to me. It has a life of its own.”
Bizarrely, Li recently found herself revisiting the 39-year-old hip-hop star's early catalogue - long before she knew he was circling back to her work.
She said: “Strangely enough, I’ve been really craving Drake and have actually been listening to Marvins Room lately.
“The old Drake was such an era. When you’d walk into a room and they’d play Hotline Bling … So yeah, I was missing him.”
Drake previously remixed Lykke Li's 2007 hit Little Bit on his 2009 mixtape So Far Gone.
