Look, DJ Khaled has done a killer job building his brand. People LOVE him—that was obvious at his unbelievably packed Coachella crowd. That's obvious in the stunning list of artists he's managed to cultivate for his upcoming album. That's obvious with his Chance the Rapper, Justin Bieber, and Lil Wayne-featuring "I'm the One," which is admittedly a great song that's currently listed at No. 3 on the charts.
But what does DJ Khaled actually do?
In this song all he says is "another one," like he does on every other song. Otherwise, he's kinda just there. And his name is on it. But it's really a Rihanna song.
Like she does on everything else, Rihanna completely commands the song, the power of her voice, her presence takes the entire thing over. You totally forget about the dorky Santana sample and whatever Bryson Tiller does, because Rihanna is busy being Rihanna.
Maybe Khaled helped out with "Wild Thoughts," I'll give him that. But it's co-written by proven hitmaker PARTYNEXTDOOR.
Khaled's more of a manager. He curates these great names and lets them make a hit song, then Khaled puts his name on it. But to me, this will always be a Rihanna song.
