Drake sought to reinvent his album rollout style with the three Iceman episodes released earlier this year. The rapper opened up about his creative direction and intentions with the livestream format in a rare interview with Complex on Tuesday (Nov. 18).
He explained that acting and embracing new challenges motivated the shift. “I have been dying to act and have been dying for a challenge,” Drake said. “The game is extremely calm seas right now. Nobody is rocking any boat on the water and so once we discussed a livestream rollout, it just sounded like the perfect mix of risk and reward for me.”
Drake said he wanted a reset from the usual single-and-video pattern. “I love the opportunity for a clean slate of thoughts and excitement and messaging when it comes to the music. What I hate is the redundancy of this formulaic approach that’s ingrained in our brains from early label days. Single, video, single, video, album cover post, etc.”
The rollout began with a July 4 livestream, where he previewed “What Did I Miss?” before releasing it the next day. A second July stream showed him in a factory before cutting to a woman dancing in a drained pool to “Which One” featuring Central Cee. The episode ended with Drake walking through a London airport to a different unreleased track.
He said he studied IRL streams and their unpredictability: “I feel like IRL just had so much unpredictable energy and movement.”
Episode three arrived in September, featuring Drake driving around Italy and previewing tracks including the Cash Cobain-assisted “Somebody Loves Me” remix and “Dog House” featuring Julia Wolf and YEAT.
Drake also said he enjoyed watching fans analyze the rollout in real time: “It’s crazy to see people make two-, three-hour videos on their thoughts and building conspiracies. It’s interactive content and that adds such a desirable element, more so than a music video with cars and tings.”
The release date for Iceman is still unknown. However, new photos of Drake playing tennis with Sexyy Red on Tuesday sparked speculation about a potential collaboration.
