Lush, piercing, and full of vulnerability, Snoh Aalegra's voice is what brings you into her music, but her lyrics are what make you stay. On "Time," the Swedish singer tells the heartbreaking story of losing her father. By the time she wails, "I wish time never mattered," it is an emotionally wrenching moment fully earned. In an interview with Gaby Wilson of MTV News, Aalegra described the making of "Time" and how it felt to have the song sampled by Drake.
"I lost my dad [in] 2009 to cancer," said Aalegra, "and I kinda always knew that I need to, at some point, write a song about those feelings, but it was very hard. And it was hard to record it, too, and it's very hard to perform it. There's been times on this tour where I have to try to hold back my tears."
The song was sent to Drake by frequent collaborator and producer Boi-1da, who also worked with Aalegra. The singer went on to discuss how it felt to have such a personal song reinterpreted by Drake on "Do Not Disturb."
"For me, it was weird because it was about me losing my dad — not having enough time with my dad," said Snoh. "For various, we weren't so close growing up. And then to see that Drake had his dad on the cover of More Life, celebrating the life of his dad. So I felt that it was a weird thing there."
The only question left is: Did she like what the Toronto rapper did with the song?
"In the Drake case, I'm a fan of his music, so I really like how it was the outro of his album and how he was, like, really rapping on that song," she said.