Drake is scrapping conventional album rollouts for his “Iceman” reside stream collection.
The Grammy-winning rapper ditched the standard album cycle, no teasers, no cowl artwork countdowns, no lead singles, as an alternative choosing cinematic reside streams on YouTube that mix unreleased tracks with surreal storytelling.
The primary episode, which aired July 4 from an ice warehouse in Toronto, ran practically an hour and featured Drake dancing by the ability and measuring ice blocks earlier than premiering “What Did I Miss?”
Drake instructed Advanced that the concept for the live-stream format got here from his dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of recent album releases.
“I used to be requested by a inventive accomplice what I really like and hate about rolling out an album,” he stated. “I expressed that I really like the chance for a clear slate of ideas and pleasure and messaging in relation to the music. What I hate is the redundancy of this formulaic strategy that’s engrained in our brains from early label days. Single, video, single, video, album cowl publish, and so forth.”
His want to stretch his inventive limits performed a big function within the resolution.
“I’ve been dying to behave and have been dying for a problem,” he stated. “The sport is extraordinarily calm seas proper now. No person is rocking any boat on the water and so as soon as we mentioned a reside stream rollout, it simply gave the impression of the right mixture of threat and reward for me.”
The streams are bold in each scope and manufacturing. In keeping with Matte Babel, chief model officer at DreamCrew and a part of Drake’s administration workforce, Episode 3 in Milan required “20 cameras, over 100 crew, over 10 areas.”
Babel additionally revealed that tight timelines and worldwide journey made it troublesome to safe permits, resulting in points mid-shoot.
“We misplaced a pair cameras mid-shoot as a result of the police had been like you may’t shoot right here,” he stated.
Every episode weaves collectively narrative threads, together with mysterious characters like a Pinocchio-inspired determine, and options cameos from artists like Central Cee and Yeat. The format additionally permits for real-time viewers suggestions on unreleased songs.
“It wasn’t one thing we spoke about, but it surely’s inherently a byproduct of this concept,” Drake stated. “Being outdoors and getting an opportunity to work together with followers, and provoke viewers participation in addition to suggestions has been wonderful.”
Drake confirmed extra episodes are on the way in which and teased a serious finale.
“The finale shall be our greatest work,” he stated.
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