Drake Reveals How One Woman Provided Inspiration for His Hit ‘Hotline Bling’

Drake’s “Hotline Bling” was inescapable following its release in 2015. The 6 God gave fans a peek behind the curtain with his 100 Gigs drop of content on Tuesday (Aug. 6), which included clips of him at the studio explaining how the diamond-certified hit came to be.

According to the artist, an anonymous woman he was hooking up with actually provided the inspiration behind “Hotline Bling,” as he had stored that phrase as her contact name. The reason? She kept getting calls and messages while the two were hanging out.

“We used to be in bed together … and her phone would be blowing up. So I saved her name in my phone as ‘Hotline Bling.’ That’s always been her name on my phone,” he said in the drop. “And I was looking at it today, I was like, ‘Hotline Bling’ is a sick name. That should be an artist name.”

Drizzy continued to say that he gave her a heads-up that he recorded a track named after her phone contact nickname. “I was talking to her today. I was like, ‘Yo, your name, your nickname is such a good title for something.’ And then I just told her today, I was like, you know I did a song called ‘Hotline Bling,’ that’s crazy,” Drake added.

The OVO boss was thinking about inviting Future to join him on “Hotline Bling,” but ultimately decided against it. “It’s melody, but it’s a vibe,” he stated. “When I was writing it, I wrote it as a Shy Glizzy song. That’s why I was asking if we should put Future on this s–t.” Drake and Future would connect a few months later for their What a Time to Be Alive joint project.

Produced by Nineteen85, “Hotline Bling” arrived in July 2015, and its vibrant music video featuring Drake’s signature dance spawned an array of viral memes and parodies on social media. The anthem never topped the Billboard Hot 100, but reached a peak of No. 2 on the chart.

Watch the 100 Gigs clips below.