“Please Do Not Lean” by Daniel Caesar (ft. BadBadNotGood)
This song (“Please Do Not Lean”) features the vocalist basically entreating the addressee, his significant other, to dump him. Or as Daniel metaphorically puts it, she should “not lean on” him. And the reason he is coming off like this, despite evidently having feelings for this lady, is because the vocalist seems to have come to the conclusion, most simply put, that he is not mature enough to handle the responsibility of being with a committed woman in a monogamous relationship. Or as Caesar explains in the second verse, at this point in life he’s “just a dog chasing his bone”. Moreover, the challenges of being a man is something that he hasn’t “nearly figured out” yet.
We do commonly come across songs by female vocalists in which it is implied that the man they have fallen in love with has maturity issues. And in this case, Daniel seems to be taking on the role of one of such individuals. So even though, in some regards, the lyrics may read overly-poetic or even sappy, what it all boils down to is the vocalist wanting to call it quits now, before the love between him and the addressee becomes more entrenched than it already is. In other words, even though he may be breaking her heart, if the relationship continues, such emotional pain will be even worse in the future.
Daniel Caesar and BadBadNotGood
Daniel Caesar is a singer with a handful of multi-platinum hits under his belt, albeit all of them thus far being collaborations. They include:
- “Get You” (2016) with Kali Uchis
- “Best Part” (2018) alongside H.E.R.
- “Peaches” (2021) as a feature of Justin Bieber’s
He also has a couple of studio albums under his belt, which have fared moderately well.
BadBadNotGood, a group of jazz/hip-hop instrumentalists, is, like Daniel Caesar, from Canada. And the two acts have collaborated at least once in the past, on a 2015 track titled “Paradise”.
“Please Do Not Lean”
Republic Records on 22 April 2022, released “Please Do Not Lean”. Its release made it the first single Caesar has headlined since 2019’s “Love Again”, which itself is a collaboration with Brandy.
Caesar debuted this song during his set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 15 April 2022.
As of Please Do Not Lean‘s date of release, it is reportedly the lead single from his third-studio album.
BadBadNotGood is an outfit that consists of Chester Hanson, Leland Whitty and Alex Sowinski. And the three of them are individually recognized as writers and producers of this song, as well as the group being acknowledged in both regards as a unit.
Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans are also acknowledged in both a writing and production capacity. Meanwhile Ace G served as another producer, and Daniel Caesar is credited solely in a writing capacity.
