NAV Myself song meaning Toronto starts in Rexdale, where a producer who made beats for other people stepped in front of his own microphone. Myself was first released to SoundCloud and YouTube on January 12, 2016, written, produced and performed by NAV himself.
That January 2016 date is the verified first release, earlier than the summer date often repeated, and it is stated here plainly for an honest catalog revisit. The song became the lead track of his self titled debut mixtape NAV, released February 24, 2017 on XO and Republic, and was serviced as a single on April 11, 2017. It has since been certified 3x Platinum in the US and 4x Platinum in Canada.
NAV Myself Song Meaning Toronto Roots And All
The lyric is a confession loop. NAV describes needing substances to slow down and to feel like himself, balling out while keeping people at a distance, and driving through the Rex, his Rexdale neighborhood in Toronto, seeing faces with no smiles. Exclaim, reviewing the mixtape, picked out the line about not liking who he is when sober as the moment the excess stops sounding like celebration. Three Toronto specifics ground the song. First, Rexdale is named in the music and in his story: NAV, born Navraj Goraya in Toronto in 1989 to Punjabi parents, grew up there, and the neighborhood flat, watchful mood is the song weather. Second, he was a producer first in a city scene built on producers, having co produced Drake Back to Back in 2015 before most listeners knew his name. Third, the XO pipeline was local: appearances connected to Belly and The Weeknd circle turned into a signing announced February 16, 2017, days before the mixtape. Myself was the proof of concept that a Toronto producer could hold a whole record alone.
Im really a producer that became an artist by accident
NAV wrote that himself, in a post reported by HotNewHipHop, and it is the most honest summary of the Myself era available. He kept the producer handle beatsbynav, believed his future was behind the boards, and found the bigger audience in front of them. The song shows why: the beat is minimal and self built, all soft keys and space, and the vocal is mixed like another instrument in his own production, which became his signature.
The Numbers Behind The Breakout
By the time the mixtape was announced, Myself had already passed 26 million SoundCloud plays, part of more than 100 million total streams across his page, with the Metro Boomin co produced Up above 21 million. A Snapchat clip of Kylie Jenner singing along to Myself, noted in Juno Awards artist background, pushed it further outside rap circles. The official video, directed by Alex Lill and released March 22, 2017, gave the song its kaleidoscopic visual, ending with pills falling like snow as the tempo sags. On radio it reached No. 31 on US Rhythmic Airplay and No. 5 on Bubbling Under R&B and Hip Hop Singles, modest peaks that understate the streaming era reality: this was a SoundCloud record that forced a major label deal. The certifications tell the long story, Gold in New Zealand, Silver in the UK, and multi Platinum at home in Canada and in the US. Toronto context continues in our archive with NAV Drops Toronto-Shot Pop My Shit Video and city honors coverage in Drake Wins Fifth Straight SOCAN Honour.
Why Myself Still Opens The NAV Story
Every NAV profile still starts here because the song contains his whole formula in embryo: self production, melodic repetition, Rexdale references and a mood that treats success and numbness as the same room. Later records scaled the formula up with Metro Boomin on Perfect Timing in 2017 and a No. 1 album with Bad Habits in 2019, but Myself remains the document of the moment before any of that, a bedroom producer uploading his own voice and watching Toronto, then the world, press play.
Revisited with the correct date, January 12, 2016, Myself is best understood as a producer demo that refused to stay a demo. It carried NAV from Rexdale to XO, from SoundCloud to multi Platinum, without a guest verse or a co producer. For a Toronto artist who calls himself an accidental singer, it is still the most revealing three minutes and forty six seconds he has released.
