“Sweet/I Thought You Wanted to Dance” by Tyler, The Creator (ft. Fana Hues and Brent Faiyaz)
As implied by the title (“Sweet/I Thought You Wanted to Dance”), this is actually two songs in one. So the entire piece is pretty lengthy, coming in at almost 10 minutes in total. And we can say the first half is a love song and the second more of a tale of romantic disappointment.
As established from the onset, it would appear that the addressee, i.e. the romantic interest of the main vocalist, is already involved with another guy. But this isn’t a case of Tyler trying to convince her to move with him instead, as he had already done so on another track, Wusyaname, from this selfsame album.
Nor do the lyrics of Sweet actually harp on the fact that she has a boyfriend. Rather, the section is based almost entirely on the vocalist’s strong feelings for the addressee. Or as Tyler puts forth, as buttressed by Brent Faiyaz in the chorus, this lady is “so sweet” that people “should call (her) sugar”, thus the title of this particular segment. And it concludes with Tyler noting that initially his intent was not to fall so hard for the addressee.
I Thought You Wanted to Dance
And concerning that sentiment, during the second half of the track, i.e. the I Thought You Wanted to Dance portion, Fana Hues enters the equation, apparently taking on the role of said addressee.
And it would seem the reason why Tyler is upset that he fell in love with her is because, most simply put, she doesn’t feel the same. Or stated otherwise their relationship in her eyes is more akin to a fling.
Conversely, as far as he’s concerned she’s like a gift from God. Or stated more plainly, he’s thoroughly in love. But conclusively she’s not down with the movement, and as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango.
So concerning the title, “dance” would be a metaphor for being romantically involved in more of a long-term kind of way. And what Tyler is saying is that he was under the impression that the apple of his eye was down like that. And even though she clearly has feelings for him also, at the end of the day things did not materialize as he idealized.
Facts about “Sweet/I Thought You Wanted to Dance”
This is a song that Tyler first teased on 14 June 2021. And he went on to release a couple of weeks later, on 25 June, as part of his sixth studio album “Call Me If You Get Lost”, which came out that same day.
This track features two additional vocalists, Brent Faiyaz and Fana Hues. The former hails from Maryland and released his first album, Black Child EP, in 2013 and his first full-length, Sonder Son, in 2017.
Meanwhile Fana, like Tyler, comes from California. And with her debut album, Hues, just dropping in 2020, she’s more of a recent addition to the game. And to note both Hues and Faiyaz are 25 years old as of the release of this song, while Tyler is 30 years of age.
The multi-talented Tyler, the Creator served as both the producer and co-writer of this track. And its other co-writers are the two featured vocalists.
DJ Drama, whose voice can be heard throughout “Call Me If You Get Lost”, also provided additional vocals to this song(s).
To note Brent Faiyaz is only featured on “Sweet”, and Fana Hues appears solely on “I Thought You Wanted to Dance”.
