How Tems’ “Higher” Inspired Future and Drake’s No. 1 Hit “Wait For U”

A No. 1 built on old alliances

“Wait For U” reached No. 1 on May 14, 2022, and stayed there for one week. Its chart success looks like a Future milestone, but the song also points to how much a Drake collaboration could still move the numbers. That dynamic would turn sour two years later, when Drake opened his feud with Kendrick Lamar by taking a swipe at Future: “I could never be nobody number one fan / Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand.” The line was about “Wait For U,” but it simplified a longer partnership. Future had never led a Hot 100 No. 1 before. Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, debuted at the top in 2021; Future’s “Life Is Good” with Drake had peaked at No. 2 the year before. Drake didn’t hand Future either song as a finished hit. Still, the collaborations helped both artists, and Future’s place in the 2024 dispute seemed to sting Drake more than most. Their alliance had lasted years. Drake’s “Push Ups” peaked at No. 17, while “Wait For U” became a chart-topper. The song arrived during a period when Drake could give a track a huge commercial lift almost by appearing on it. That’s more revealing than the familiar story of one superstar helping another: Future was already a major force, but his collaborations were gaining chart power as Drake’s influence grew. The catch is that the song itself feels like a product of that machinery—two stars accumulating hits while their music sounds increasingly tired. The Number Ones is Tom Breihan’s column reviewing every Hot 100 No. 1, beginning in 1958. It now runs every other week, alternating on Mondays with

The Alternative Number Ones. Breihan’s book, The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music, is also available.

A beat that began with Tems

The title “Wait For U” manages to sound unfinished before the song even starts. Future couldn’t decide between “Wait For You” and “Wait 4 U,” apparently. That small bit of indecision fits a track whose strongest idea came from somewhere else: Tems’ “Higher,” from her 2020 debut EP, For Broken Ears. The beat’s main architect was ATL Jacob, a 21-year-old Atlanta producer who had been working around Future for years. He’d made the instrumental about a year before release and gave it to Future, who kept listening without recording. When Jacob considered offering it to other artists, Future told him to hold it. Jacob later told Complex, “[Future] said he listened to that beat every day for a month straight, without rapping or nothing. He was just listening to the beat like it was a song.” Jacob’s sound—echoing, melodic Atlanta trap, often with a dark edge—had already appeared on Future’s 2019 album The Wizrd. He produced several tracks there, including “First Off,” a Travis Scott collaboration that peaked at No. 47. He’d also worked with Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, and Lil Yachty. On “Wait For U,” Jacob builds around Tems’ sung line, “I will wait for you, for you,” slowing and looping it over trap drums and bass. The sample appears to come from a live performance of “Higher,” with Tems singing over guitar, rather than the studio recording: here’s the performance. The guitar’s soft, crystalline pattern matters as much as the vocal. Tems receives a featured-artist credit despite not recording a new vocal for the track. That credit can feel odd when it comes from a sample, but her work is the song’s most distinctive ingredient.

Tems’ route to the Hot 100

Temilade Openiyi spent part of her childhood in the UK, then grew up mostly in Lagos. She sang in her school choir, wrote songs as a child, and got into American pop and R&B through CDs passed along by her brother’s friends. Her family didn’t see music as a dependable career. Her mother, a doctor, encouraged her to study economics at Monash University College in Johannesburg. Tems taught herself production through YouTube tutorials, took a digital-marketing job after school, then quit to pursue music. She later told The New York Times, “I just thought, ‘This is what I’m actually gifted at. I should do something that comes naturally to me rather than trying to force it.’” Her first single, “Mr Rebel,” came out in 2018. “Try Me,” released the following year, built an audience in Nigeria during Afrobeats’ growing international reach. “Damages” became a Nigerian top 10 hit in 2020. “Try Me” also caught the attention of Wizkid, who had already appeared in this column for his work on Drake’s “One Dance.” Tems appeared on Wizkid’s “Essence” in 2020. Justin Bieber joined a remix the next year, helping the track reach No. 9 on the Hot 100 and bringing Tems wider international attention. The remix is a 7. Around the same time, she featured on Drake’s “Fountains,” which peaked at No. 26.

A polished track with little to say

“Wait For U” has a long list of credited producers: Jacob, Tejiri Akpoghene, who made “Higher” with Tems; Australian duo FnZ; 1SRAEL of the Philadelphia production collective Working On Dying; and Sonic Major, a Dallas-born collaborator of Don Toliver. It’s hard to tell from the credits what each person contributed. The track carries the smooth, carefully finished sheen associated with Drake, though it began as a Future idea. Drake was a frequent collaborator and had already worked with Afrobeats artists, so his appearance isn’t surprising. Almost nothing about the song is. The contrast between Future’s low, grainy voice and Drake’s sleek, nasal delivery still works. The beat is pleasant, and the guitar sample gives it shape. But the lyrics circle a familiar kind of romantic stalemate. Future describes being high, traveling, and unable—or unwilling—to let someone close. He admits, “I get more vulnerable when I do pills / When you drunk, you tell me exactly how you feel.” It could be a confession about a relationship breaking down, or a way to keep someone invested while holding them at a distance. Drake’s verses are no more convincing. He wants affection without commitment, resents a woman seeing someone else, and complains that gifts haven’t stopped her from getting angry. “Girl, put a muzzle on it, all that barkin’ over dinner,” he tells her, before claiming he tried to bring out her best. The song asks for sympathy while dodging responsibility. I don’t buy it. The video, directed by Director X, dresses the story in faux-medieval spectacle: Future as a king bound for battle, Drake as an armored knight, and women in Renaissance-fair costumes. Tems doesn’t appear. The expensive-looking production can’t supply a clearer idea of what the song is about. “Wait For U” appeared on Future’s I Never Liked You, an album with its share of solid moments, even if much of it sounds like late-period autopilot. Future and his label leaned on major guests to make the release an event. Drake also appears on “I’m On One,” a separate track from DJ Khaled’s 2011 song with the same title; the older hit featured Drake too. The newer “I’m On One” peaked at No. 11. Kanye West joined Future on “Keep It Burnin,” which peaked at No. 15. “Wait For U” spent one week at No. 1. The chart result makes sense. The song’s central sample is lovely, the performers were enormous, and Drake’s presence could still draw listeners in. But the track’s biggest story is also its weakness: it sounds like a hit assembled from familiar parts, with the spark supplied by Tems and the rest running on superstar momentum.

I Never Liked You opened with a rare chart sweep: all 16 tracks landed on the Hot 100 the following week, including four in the top 10. “Puffin On Zootiez” reached No. 5, and its ominous, off-kilter Future is the version I’m most drawn to. (It’s a 7.) “Wait For U” debuted at No. 1 while Harry Styles’ “As It Was” was trading places at the top. Future’s single lasted there one week, then did something more telling: it held in the top 10 for months and stayed on the chart for nearly a year. The album is now double platinum; “Wait For U” has gone 11-times platinum.

That staying power is the part I can’t quite explain. “Wait For U” remains among Future’s biggest songs on Spotify, and I don’t know why it caught on so broadly—or why listeners have kept coming back. For Tems, though, the hit marked a major moment, even if it hasn’t yet translated into a new tier of global stardom. Her largest chart appearances have mostly come with established Western stars, particularly in 2022. She joined Grace Jones on Beyoncé’s excellent “Move,” which peaked at No. 55, then co-wrote and sang backing vocals on Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up.” The latter, from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, briefly suggested Rihanna was about to return in earnest. She didn’t. “Lift Me Up” reached No. 2. (It’s a 4.) Tems is now charting higher as a lead artist than ever before: “What You Need” sits at No. 29 this week and seems to be climbing.

Future’s album success came with a sense of creative stasis, but the next stretch showed signs of life. On Metro Boomin’s “Superheroes (Heroes & Villains),” Future sounded more engaged than he had on other people’s records around that time, riding Metro’s widescreen production. Chris Brown is also credited, though his contribution is brief and absent from the video version. The song peaked at No. 8. (It’s an 8.)

“Superheroes” appeared on Heroes & Villains, whose release and Grammy complications helped sour Metro and Drake’s relationship. Future later seemed to turn on Drake as well: he delivered pointed lines that appeared aimed at him, then joined Metro on the track where Kendrick Lamar made his long-running feud with Drake public. That story belongs in a future column. Or a Future column. You get it.

The feud didn’t last forever. Future later appeared on Drake’s “Ran To Atlanta,” a belated answer to another song we’ll get to down the line. Both artists sounded newly energized, especially Drake, and the track peaked at No. 2. (It’s an 8.)

Drake’s story in this column is far from finished. He’ll be back soon.

GRADE: 3/10

BONUS BEATS: Meek Mill, another longtime participant in Drake’s feud history, takes a turn over the “Wait For U” beat:

Meek’s highest-charting single remains “Going Bad,” his 2019 collaboration with Drake after their feud, which reached No. 6. (It’s a 7.)

The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal The History Of Pop Music is out now from Hachette Books. Asking you to buy the book still makes me feel exposed.