The UK rapper Dave is back after a bit of a hiatus with a brand new album ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp.’ Keeping up with long tradition, he has a track dedicated for reflections on the album titled “My 27th Birthday.” The 8-minute track an inner monologue about Dave’s view on his personal life, career, music, and much more.
‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’ is Dave’s third studio album, following his 2021 project ‘We’re Alone In This Together.’ He went into a four year hiatus before releasing his 2025 album with 10 new tracks. He also confirmed that the album title is an ode to Kind David, the biblical king known for playing a harp. Dave added “David’s story and search for purpose has guided me and I’ve grown so much over these years.”
“My 27th Birthday” is a continuation of a tradition of songs devoted to some of the rapper’s birthdays. Previously he has released “My 19th Birthday” in 2018, “My 24th Birthday” in 2022, and “Our 25th Birthday” in 2023 featuring rapper Central Cee, both of them share the same birthday.
Listen to “My 27th Birthday” by Dave
Dave “My 27th Birthday” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
Dave reflects to a time he was in the Caribbeans. He looks into his life thus far and he cannot help be impressed. His life looks like a movie – not just any – one worthy of the direction of the likes of Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan. He didn’t inherit riches from his parents. Whatever he has to his name is self-made and he can be proud about that.
I’m out in Barbados, white people mistreatin’ locals
The villa in Jamaica, but it’s owned by the Chinese
Dave touches on tourism masked exploitation of locals. Most times tourism isn’t even controlled by locals so that the locals benefit out of it. The locals are mere minimum wage workers at these tourist hot spots.
Dave cannot be silent watching all these injustices around him. He tries to talk about these issues in his social media platforms – but often times they just end up being another writing on the wall.
Next he begins to doubt himself – his part in changing the world for the better. He already forgot the big brand sodas he started protesting a few months back. Did he stop drinking Coca-Cola and Fanta both or just one of them? Did he make a dent in these brands’ actions? He cried about slavery and still he had to go to Dubai with his girlfriend because they had to vacation. He forgot about slavery for a while.
Jewels that my people die for are a sign of my wealth
People have died extracting and trading diamonds and other rare earth metals for a long time. These diamonds are called ‘blood diamonds’ for the sins they carry. Dave knows that some of the jewelry he wear carry some weight from the past. But he does it anyway. Is he part of the problem, too?
Verse 2
In the second verse of the song, Dave tackles his career and personal affairs. He feels like a celebrity, having had two successful albums so far. But he gets reminded, too, that he is not an A-list celebrity yet. He might have regrets about his 4 year hiatus from music. In this cut throat industry if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind and playlists.
The next part of the verse goes into a series of questions Dave raises for himself about himself. Subjects such as digital loneliness, life in the middle east, artificial beauty standards among women, and his own identity are things in question.
I mean, how do I explain that I don’t want to heal ’cause my identity is pain?
Ever since Dave’s first studio album, we fans have been exposed to his inner struggles. He feels as if he has been through so much pain that it has become part of his identity.
Verse 3
In the third and final verse of “My 27th Birthday,” Dave continues his inner monologue of trying to find who he is and his place in this world.
Dave seems to deeply regret being away from music for so long. Especially since, it is something he finds purpose in. Inside he still feels like a kid at times. This is because there is a kid who never got to experience a childhood so he never grew up.
He got into booze. He kicked the habit. It took almost six months of sobriety just to feel like himself again.
Dave seems to have a deep frustration with the digital world of today. He explicitly says that he will not trust a girl who has a lock screen picture of herself. He might be insinuating that those girls are narcissistic and likely would take advantage of his influence and money. He also takes a jab at content creators who would anything and everything to get some views and clicks in this ‘attention economy.’ Nobody is content with anything still.
The latter part of the third verse is quite profound. Dave admits that he has issues that he needs to work on. He has a cross to bear and he expects no one to carry it for him. He regrets the connections he did not keep up with. Music is his outlet and without it Dave sees no purpose to his existence. But can he do good with his music? Can he influence enough people to make a difference? Can he heal himself if he uttered enough words in his songs? We will find out.
It hurts, but I’m still movin’, feel like it’s me versus me and I’m still losin’
Final line of the song does not inspire a lot of faith in us for Dave. But we can clearly see he is facing his demons and fighting hard. ‘Me versus me’ is always the toughest battle anyone can face.
Let us hear what you think about the song in the comments below. Read the complete lyrics to the song on Genius.