The highly anticipated latest project from Dave, we review The Boy Who Played the Harp and examine some of the footy references laced throughout the album.
On October 24, music fans all over rejoiced — we finally got another Dave album.
One of the world’s preeminent MCs, Dave’s gift for storytelling and ear for melodies and enticing production have led him to become one of the biggest artists in his home country of England and across the world alike. His latest album, The Boy Who Played the Harp, comes four years after the critically-acclaimed We’re All Alone In This Together and six years since his Mercury Award-winning debut, Psychodrama.
Dave knows fans have waited a long time for this project and his answer for why is provided on “My 27th Birthday.” Dave’s birthday songs are known for being full of insight and are his place for vulnerable introspection. This one is no different.
“You wanna know the reason it’s taken me four years?” he raps. “It’s not ’cause I’m surrounded by yes-men and sycophants/It’s ’cause I’m with producers and people that give a damn.”
It’s clear Dave was intentional with every detail of this project. He is someone who believes in quality over quantity and The Boy Who Played the Harp was worth the wait.
Diving Deeper Into Spirituality
The title The Boy Who Played the Harp is based on 1 Samuel 16 from the Christian Old Testament, where David played the harp for King Saul to ease his mind from an evil spirit. In a similar vein, Dave uses his craft to release his own heavy thoughts and help listeners process theirs.
“History” is clear about where Dave believes he gets the inspiration for his music from. He immediately declares, “This is God’s plan/He said it to me/An angel at the side of my bed in a dream saying, ‘You don’t know what you’re yet to achieve/And you’re destined for some shit you would never believe.’”
The track reflects on how Dave came from the trenches of Streatham in South London to become a global superstar. He sprinkles in an interpolation of Skepta’s “Bullet From a Gun” about them both understanding the significance of their names. Dave ponders how he’ll be remembered in the footsteps of the greats who have paved the road before him.
Then “175 Months” is literally a prayer to God that expresses remorse at not keeping in constant communication with the higher power, but now asking for guidance and protection for his loved ones. The beat, crafted by Dave himself, has several layers with rises and falls. Dave reflects on how, when he was a kid, his mother would pray over him at night reciting Psalm 23 and Matthew 4. He spits some incredible bars with, “I’m in church more worried about the service on my phone,” “How I’m tryna pray for Congo with these diamonds on my neck,” and “I prayed for new shoes and I used them to walk away from you.”
Dave is in a spiritual mature place of self-awareness and self-reflection. The more aware he becomes, the more he sees his own hypocrisy and sinful nature. And he expresses remorse for his sins and a desire to live a more righteous life.
Perhaps the project is exemplified in the line, “Made it out the drugs, sort the pen from the needles/I just found a different way to poison my people/You could say it’s testimony that I’m tellin’ in my story/But how we sellin’ them the devil, still givin’ God the glory?”
Throughout The Boy Who Played the Harp, Dave is reflecting on hypocrisy, not only in the world, but in himself. There’s noticeably no radio-ready single like “Location” or “Clash.” If anything, Dave decries his past superficiality, materialism and objectifying of women, the last one is a point of regret on “Fairchild.”
But even if there’s not a song that fits on a Hot 100 chart sonically, the production, mostly done by Santan Dave himself, is still masterful. The album blends in gritty rock elements, Spanish guitars, and there is, of course, a harp on “My 27th Birthday.” He furthers the connection to the Biblical narrative of King David by saying how he was more aggressive in the past, “Sling a shot, I could have really killed a giant with a rock.”
The album doesn’t exactly have a clear resolution, but it reflects the daily Christian walk full of purpose. On the title track, which closes the project, Dave imagines his ancestors and spiritual counselors spurring him on.
“I know the sins of your father, I know that you’re desperate to fight them,” he spits. “So step in your purpose, speak for your people, share all your secrets/Expose your emotions, you might not see, but there’s people that need it/Never demand it, and if God can grant it, manifest it and receive it/Your name is David, and that covenant sacred, you gotta promise, so keep it.”
Football References on Dave’s The Boy Who Played the Harp
Dave is a committed Manchester United fan and has sprinkled soccer references throughout his music catalog. They range from the more obvious like naming a whole song “Thiago Silva” with AJ Tracey to a subtle reference to a through ball on “Survivor’s Guilt.”
On The Boy Who Played the Harp, there’s not as many obvious shoutouts to the beautiful game. Perhaps that’s because the Red Devils haven’t been good in quite some time, and Dave didn’t feel inspired by his club? Or perhaps he felt the pop culture references didn’t match the maturation of the music he wanted to make?
Either way, “Chapter 16” has the most footy wordplay on the album. When Dave asks Kano for advice about women, the veteran encourages him to stay cool, “All of this defense won’t make you strike her/God loves a trier.” He’s saying that Dave shouldn’t be so defensive in his pursuit of a woman if he actually wants to find a good relationship. Of course, it’s also saying that the best defenders could never play the striker position. And vice versa.
As the song continues to reflect on the complexity of modern dating, Dave decries how women use Botox and other beauty treatments to hide their wrinkles and “Hoes lying about their age like Nigerian strikers.” Kano laughs at the comparison to the stereotype of how parents try to give their kids an advantage in youth sports.
Sports Bonus: Dave talks about drinking rum and Red Bull before shouting out F1 champion and Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen.
And then, it’s not exactly a soccer reference, but on “Selfish,” Dave reflects on how he needs to focus on himself and not outside noise. “We don’t need no commentators, we could leave that to the sports,” he raps.
Dave also shows how soccer is part of everyday life in England. On “Marvellous,” he tells the story of a lad named Josiah and how he got caught up in street life. But before that, he was a promising soccer player who even had a tryout that could have led down a different path.
“We know this kid for kickin’ ball and he was hard,” Dave delivers. “He could’ve made it professional, had a trial, we told him, ‘You got a chance.’”
But, “He don’t wanna kick ball, he wanna bun/And he don’t wanna make friends, he want a gang.”
Stellar Features Help Boost The Boy Who Played the Harp
The features help place The Boy Who Played the Harp in the elite category. Dave reunites with James Blake not once, but twice. The singer offers his angelic vocals on “History” and “Selfish.” Blake previously helped elevate “Both Sides of a Smile” off We’re All Alone in This Together.
Dave goes back and forth in a wonderful way with Jim Legxacy on “No Weapons,” which was also produced by Legxacy. He is one of the most exciting new artists in the UK right now and Dave supplied a verse on “3x” for his new project, black british music (2025).
Nicole Blakk also does an amazing job on “Fairchild.” The song is in the same vein as Dave’s Psychodrama epic “Lesly,” which is an 11-minute narrative telling the story of a woman who was in a toxic relationship and didn’t know how to get out. “Fairchild” zooms out and explains how women always have to watch their back, whether it’s walking home from the club or scrolling on the internet. Blakk delivers the woman’s point of view in a beautiful melodic spoken word that sends chills down the listener’s spine.
A major theme of The Boy Who Played the Harp is love. Throughout the project, Dave reflects on how he’s tried to have a relationship, but being cheated on caused him to distrust women and he’s found fulfillment in music that others might find in romance. But “Raindance” shows that he still has hope for true love just like he did on “Purple Heart” from Psychodrama.
On the new song, he says he’s ready for commitment now and offers some clever wordplay with “I like the sound of fiancée/You know it’s got a little ring to it.” But Tems really steals the show. Her croon of “I love you” is so simple yet so emotive. The gentle drums create a vibe and then the interpolations of “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It” by Dem Franchize Boyz and “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” by ODB are unexpected, but add to the lighthearted, flirtatious nature of the track.
The standout feature is Kano on “Chapter 16,” which is basically a dinner conversation of him and Dave going back and forth about what it means to be a rap star. The song serves as a passing of the torch moment where Kano calls Dave and Little Simz the “rap Messiah.” The title of the track also comes from 1 Samuel 16 where Saul anoints David as the next king.
Kano recalls watching Dave’s sound check for a show at Troxy, his first time performing, and then watching him perform at the O2 as a witness to his career trajectory. He offers advice on women and staying connected to friends and they also jokingly argue over Nigerian and Jamaican culture and how to pronounce “plantain.” Sometimes, conversation tracks can feel forced or are too personal and uninteresting for the outside listener. But on this song, the banter is perfectly inviting, informative, and entertaining.
There’s unfortunately no Central Cee appearance on The Boy Who Played the Harp. Dave and Cench have been a dynamic duo, especially on their “Split Decision” EP that featured the mega hit “Sprinter.” Central Cee had Dave on his debut album, Can’t Rush Greatness. Dave delivered a feature on the title track and produced the dynamic “Walk In Wardrobe.” So it was a bummer to not see their incredible chemistry here. But Central Cee is not completely left out.
On “27th Birthday,” Dave mentions how important his friendship with the Shepherd’s Bush rapper is to him. “I just phoned Cench and I said, ‘You inspired myself’/I don’t feel a spot of jealousy inside of myself.”
On the same song, Dave gives a glimpse into why he chose who he did to appear on The Boy Who Played the Harp. He offers, “Who’s the best artist in the world?/I’m sayin’ Tems/Maybe James Blake or Jim, on the day, depends.” It’s great to see Dave is in a space of success and creativity where he can enlist people he is inspired by and create a project he is proud of.
Longtime Dave fans won’t find anything dramatically different or experimental on The Boy Who Played the Harp. In some ways, it feels like Psychodrama is hard to top as a conceptual album because he made such a splash with his debut. But, with The Boy Who Played the Harp, he shows spiritual maturity and offers the listener questions that he is asking himself too. He relied on his gifts for storytelling and vulnerably sharing his own internal battles to stake another flag in the music landscape that he’s one of today’s greats.
