The drake nokia lyrics production elkan story starts with a ringtone everyone over a certain age already knows by heart. NOKIA was released on February 14, 2025 as part of Some Sexy Songs 4 U, the collaborative album by Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR, and it impacted radio as a single on March 11, 2025.
The sharpest detail is the producer. Elkan, full name Paul Omar Agyei, built the track and also provides additional vocals, which means the voice weaving through the record is part of the production itself, not a separate feature added later.
How Elkan Built The NOKIA Beat
Wikipedia’s composition notes, drawing on Pitchfork, describe a sweaty Atlanta bass beat peppered with flashy synths, with androgynous vocals from Elkan. The synth line references the classic Nokia ringtone from the 1990s and early 2000s, turning a phone sound into a hook. That choice does three jobs at once: it is instantly recognizable, it fits the lyric’s recurring question about who is calling, and it gives the record a playful center inside a polished album.
Critics heard the fun immediately. Billboard critic Michael Saponara, ranking NOKIA among the best tracks on the album, called it:
“an electronic banger that has girls running around with glowstick necklaces” Michael Saponara, Billboard, via Wikipedia critical reception summary for Nokia (song)
The second half is where the production earns a deep dive. The beat stutters and slows into a crunchy groove, and Drake shifts into a Whodini type flow, a deliberate change of pace that makes the record feel like two connected rooms in the same party. Example one is the ringtone synth as melody. Example two is the tempo shift as structure. Example three is Elkan’s vocal texture as glue between the two halves.
Chart Run And The IMAX Video
NOKIA peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 19, 2025 and number five on the Canadian Hot 100, per Wikipedia chart reporting. The official video, directed by Theo Skudra and shot in IMAX, was released March 31, 2025 and includes a cameo from Canadian basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a Toronto friendly detail that helped the visual travel well beyond the album audience.
For more on Drake’s chart history in this period, see Drake Breaks Billboard Record With HABIBTI and Drake Wins Fifth Straight SOCAN Honour, which cover the honors that framed this album cycle at home.
The drake nokia lyrics production elkan combination also explains the song’s staying power on playlists. The lyric is simple and repetitive by design, built around names and a ringing phone, while the production keeps moving underneath it. Simple on top, detailed underneath is a classic Drake formula, and NOKIA is a clean modern example of it working at full scale.
Why The Ringtone Idea Worked
Sampling a ringtone could have been a gimmick. Instead, Elkan treated it as an instrument, pitching and arranging it so it supports the bass and the vocal rather than sitting on top as a joke. The result is nostalgia you can dance to, and a record that sounds current while pointing at a shared memory of flip phones, text messages and late night calls.
Revisited now, NOKIA stands as the clearest production story on Some Sexy Songs 4 U: one producer, one familiar sound, two tempos and a number two Hot 100 peak. It is a reminder that Drake’s biggest recent records often start with a single smart sonic decision, executed completely.
Listening Notes For A Fresh Playthrough
Listen for the handoff between the two halves. The first section is bright, fast and built for movement, with the ringtone synth acting almost like a second vocalist answering Drake. The second section drags the tempo, thickens the drums and invites a slower, more deliberate flow, and the contrast is the point: the same caller, two different moods, one continuous night. Producers studying the record often point to how little changes in the melodic material while everything changes in the feel, a lesson in arrangement over addition. For casual listeners, the takeaway is simpler. NOKIA is engineered to survive repetition, on radio, in clubs and in short clips, because every fifteen seconds something in the texture shifts. That design, credited to Elkan’s dual role as producer and vocalist, is why a full breakdown of the drake nokia lyrics production elkan credit keeps rewarding attention long after the chart peak has passed and the album cycle has moved on.
