Drake’s Vocal Coach Shares How She Helped Him Change His Style

We can all thank Dionne Osborne for Drake’s signature style. In this in-depth interview with Jezebel, she dishes on the change in Drake’s singing style.

Jade Raven

Dionne Osborne has been Drake’s vocal coach since his ‘So Far Gone’ days, and if you’ve notice, his vocal ability has improved to what his signature sound is now. Osborne has been by Drake’s side, staying his in ear, helping him keep disciplined over the years. She’s made such an impact on Drake’s career, that Lil Wayne’s manager said to her,“Drake told me you changed his life.”

In the interview, Osborne reveals what Drake eats on tour, how she came to work for him, his connection with the fans, her favorite Drake song and more!

“So, Jan sent me to Toronto where they were doing rehearsals. I think I was supposed to be there for three to five days. I felt a bit of trepidation, because, Jia, here’s the real truth: rappers only come to us when they already have vocal damage, and it’s kind of too late to help. And going in, you don’t know who wanted you there, the artist or the management team. You don’t know if they’re going to fight it.

So I show up early and the band is drilling me with questions. What are you going to do? What are you going to do to him? I start talking to them about health stuff, and they’re like, He loves his sweet tea. You’re never going to get him to give up his sweet tea.

Then Drake walks in with his posse. You know how rappers never go anywhere without a big group of people. And he stuck his arms straight out and gave me a big hug and that was it.”

“I’ve never had anyone trust me implicitly like he did. He really opened up his heart and his brain. Even after all this time, he rarely doubts me. He wants to get better and he did from the very beginning. I’m very proud to say that even when I’m not there, he’s drinking water. He says “Goodnight, God bless, I’m Drake, take care,” and he gets offstage and starts cooling down his voice. He takes a chef with him, he works out. He’s doing it on his own now.”

“So, during one tour, I told him, “Drake, you know what would be really cool? If you could flow directly out of your raps into the melody and and go right back into the rap. Just flowing back and forth, back and forth.” He told me later on, “You said that to me and it kind of pissed me off. I thought I was already doing that.” But then he went home, listened to his stuff and started working on it. He got what I was saying. He’s got that ability and he improved.”

“That frees him up to focus on the connection he makes with his fans in his shows. I tell him, “Drake, people are drawn to your music for a reason. You’re saying things people want to say, but can’t.” The first time he felt that connection for real it was a religious experience. It really is a high, for everyone involved. The audience is looking to be acknowledged. Everyone wants to be acknowledged. Drake gets blasted by the media for one part of his set where he calls out his fans. It stretches out long, sometimes 15 minutes. But it’s great and he loves it. He goes section to section, people have signs, guys are holding up their prosthetic legs. It’s crazy. They need to know he sees them, and he does.”

“He’s not afraid to experiment even on tour. He’s pretty brave. He really has brass balls. I don’t know how anyone can really make fun of Drake, because he makes more fun of himself than anyone else. He’ll do whatever. When he hosted Saturday Night Live and did the skit as the Disney tour guide with the shorts all the way to his crotch—I just died! I remembered this moment on tour when I looked at him and told him, “Drake you have very pretty legs.” He was like, no, I don’t. I’m like, “Yeah you do! No girl has ever told you have pretty legs?” He goes, no.

“And there he was on SNL in those short, short, shorts! He probably encouraged the costume girl, “Go shorter with the shorts, you got to go shorter with the shorts.” All just to make the scene even funnier!”

“Oh, more disagree than fight. But probably alcohol. He’s an adult, and he may come in and say, “Didi, we drank too much last night.” He generally steps away from all smoking. But probably in four years, we’ve only had two real times we’ve disagreed, and they weren’t really arguments, it was me getting upset with him for spreading himself too thin. I keep saying, “You’re the person that could get hurt here. You’re the person that’s going to walk on stage not being effective, and before you leave the building it will be on YouTube, and it’ll be there FOREVER.”

I’m sure he gets frustrated with me more often than he shows it. I’m always like, “Drake, you don’t have time to get your hair cut right now!” And he’s like, “DIDI!” He’s conscious about the way his hair looks. But then I’m over there, like Jiminy Cricket. The conscience.”

“A lot of it was educating his tour group about how to help him manage being on the road. I took him to a Wal-Mart in the middle of Kansas, or somewhere, and made them put a humidifier on the bus. He needed the humidifier on the bus because it was so dry in there. Later on in the tour, Drake thought he was having trouble singing, so I showed up to help. He was getting his haircut and I took one look at his face and said, “Oh, baby, you’re sick.” I could see it in his eyes. Well, after sending one of the guys back on the bus to retrieve the humidifier, I opened up that humidifier and I just wanted to kill somebody. I laid into them, “You see this pink stuff? THIS IS MOLD. THIS IS WHY HE’S SICK.”

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