Drake Performs With The Backstreet Boys At His 40th Birthday Party

Drake marked his 40th birthday a day early on Friday night, October 23, with a party at Casa Cipriani in New York at which the Backstreet Boys were the performers — and the guest of honor joined them on stage to sing “I Want It That Way.” TMZ published video of Drake performing with the group.

The rapper, born Aubrey Drake Graham in Toronto on October 24, 1986, officially turned 40 on Saturday. Friday’s party, at Casa Cipriani in Manhattan, drew more than 400 guests, according to Complex. An attendee who spoke to People described the evening as “so elegant, over the top and expensive,” adding: “The whole place was decorated very lavish, but tasteful.” Drake arrived in a sparkling black tuxedo jacket with a bow tie and wide-leg trousers, according to Just Jared’s account of the night.

It was the host, rather than the guests, who handed out the presents. According to People’s source, guests received handbags by the French houses Chanel and Hermès, and cash prizes were awarded in a game styled on the television game show Deal or No Deal: the prizes started at $10,000, and the largest totaled $1 million.

The Backstreet Boys — Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough — performed during the evening. Drake joined the five on stage for “I Want It That Way,” the group’s 1999 hit from the album Millennium, and TMZ’s video shows him singing along with the band, reprising a performance the six men first gave together four years ago.

That first performance came in July 2022, at the Toronto stop of the Backstreet Boys’ DNA World Tour, when Drake walked on unannounced and sang the same song with the group, weaving in a passage of his own “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” The band introduced him that night as their “sixth member,” and Drake told the crowd the song carried a history for him: at his bar mitzvah, a girl he liked had asked him to dance to it — a moment he described as the first time he felt he had a shot at being cool.

Drake received a present of his own during Friday’s celebrations: a red Ferrari, presented to him outside the venue, according to Just Jared. Addressing the room during the party, he told his guests, “Tonight is just about being alive, staying alive,” according to Complex.

The New York party was the second celebration of the week. On Wednesday, friends — among them the dancehall artist Popcaan, who records for Drake’s OVO label — gathered at Toronto’s CN Tower and surprised him with a collage of memories, according to MusiCulture’s report of the week’s events. The birthday also arrived alongside a career marker: Drake has recently passed 350 million certified units in the United States under the Recording Industry Association of America’s program, a figure reported by multiple outlets on Sunday.

Sources: TMZ; People; Just Jared; Complex; MusiCulture.