PARTYNEXTDOOR Covers FADER

OVO Sound's PARTYNEXTDOOR speaks for the very first time on a alot of topics. Signing to Drake's OVO Sound label, the '90s R&B influence in his music and more.

Go to FADER for the entire story.


Critics often lump PARTYNEXTDOOR in with fellow Toronto-born, OVO-nurtured singer The Weeknd, but the comparison is lazy if not inaccurate. Though both artists sing songs that dissect the emotional tolls of sex and relationships from the perspective of the endlessly desired, The Weeknd’s music is considerably more detached, if not altogether devoid of the soul one finds in Party songs like “SLS” or “Let’s Get Married.” “People throw that [Weeknd comparison] over me because I came at a time where people assumed I was there to fill a void,” he says, alluding to The Weeknd’s departure from the OVO fold in 2012. And though PARTYNEXTDOOR’s music includes touchstones of the “dark” aesthetic The Weeknd became known for—mentions of drug use, screwed-up vocals, gloomy sax riffs—Party considers the idea an affront to his versatility. “A lot of things that came out of Toronto were darker at the time. But me? I’m all about colors. I’ll flip samples where one’s a completely dark song and the next one is a complete sexual song. People think my whole thing is a dark thing, but I don’t.”