Drake – “Successful” F. Trey Songz (Groundislava Remix)

Potholes favorite Groundislava gives Drake and Trey Songz the treatment this week, dropping (via Soundcloud) his remix of “Successful”. It’s a woozy, dissociative affair, with reverb as deep as the Mariana Trench draped all over everything and hyperactive drum machine work serving as a nice counterpoint to both the minimalist slow-jam beat of the original track and the staggering lurch of the synths on this remix. Trey Songz’s hook benefits immensely from this druggy, abstract treatment- it’s pure, market-tested pop, infectious as the common cold, but a triple dose of artfully applied echo gives it enough depth to catapult it out of ‘guilty pleasure’ territory. This is pop music with a face full of medical-grade nitrous oxide, bubblegum Top 40 stuff gone to the dentist, and in Groundislava’s capable hands everyone involved comes out better for it.