Appearing on Trevor Nelson’s BBC Radio 1Xtra show on Thursday, UK artist Kyla discussed how she ended up featuring in Drake’s newest single (well, one of).
Trevor Nelson introduced Kyla by reminding listeners of ‘Do You Mind?’, the funk artist’s original song, released in 2009. Nelson described the original as ‘funky’ and added: “Drake obviously loves this tune, he’s done his thing with it,” making reference to the sample of ‘Do You Mind?’ in ‘One Dance’.
The whole process started with a phone call, according to Kyla: “I got a call a while back, I was getting loads of emails, to be honest I kept putting them aside and I was like I’ll call later.”
The British artist was contacted by multiple music copyright organisations to inform her that someone wanted to sample her track. Unknown to Kyla, that ‘someone’ was Drake; which probably contributed to her casualness in calling back.
Trevor Nelson suggested that Kyla might have thought the ‘someone’ was actually a ‘grime artist on the rise’.
Laughing, she explained why she took the time to answer Drake’s request: “We’ve had things come in and then they fall through at the last minute. I used to get my hopes up and then you get let down, so you are hardened to it.”
When Kyla eventually picked up the phone it was explained that it was a “huge international star” that wanted to sample the track and meet with her. “When they said Drake I was like ‘yeah right’,” explained the singer.
“We signed the paper deal and everything, and I still didn’t believe it. I had the feeling someone was going to say to me on April Fools’ Day ‘Kyla we were having you on’, I most probably wouldn’t have talked to them again.”
Originally Kyla’s voice was only supposed to be sampled, however in talks with Drake’s team the sample transformed into a feature to the delight of Kyla and our ears.
The singer hinted at starring in the video and at more singles with Drake, and if ‘One Dance’ is anything to go by, this collaboration could be the start of something very beautiful.
Kyla also added that she is in the process of releasing music of her own and we cannot wait to hear more of her soft and sultry tones.
We love both Kyla’s original and Drake’s new release. Let us know what you think of this great new collab @CelebMix !