Drake has admitted he was tired of the standard album rollout process and needed a “challenge”.
Instead of the traditional method of dropping singles and music videos, Drake decided to launch a series of cinematic livestreams for his upcoming album, Iceman, blending music premieres with live-action storytelling and high-production visuals.
The unusual way to preview a record felt like the “perfect mix of risk and reward” for the Canadian rap superstar.
In a rare interview, he told Complex: “I have been dying to act and have been dying for a challenge.
“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.”
The 39-year-old star continued: “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 Hotline Bling hitmaker was drawn to the “unpredictable energy and movement” of “in real life livestreams”.
He explained: “I think I am always capable of recognising when things are shifting and not being weirdly affected by it, not being jealous, not being thirsty, just finding how I can shine light or co-exist or make it a part of our ecosystem.
“With this, I just would study IRL streams versus the stagnant ‘bedroom cam’ streams, and I feel like IRL just had so much unpredictable energy and movement.”
The first episode, streamed from an ice warehouse in Toronto, introduced What Did I Miss? — a moody, introspective track that blends icy synths with Drake’s signature melodic flow. The second episode, filmed in Manchester, featured Which One, a collaboration with British rapper Central Cee that leans into UK drill influences.
In the third instalment, shot across Milan, viewers heard snippets of Dog House, a genre-blending track featuring Julia Wolf and YEAT, and a remix of Somebody Loves Me with Cash Cobain. The full tracklist and release date for Iceman remains under wraps for now.
Iceman will follow Drake’s collaborative album Some Sexy Songs 4 U with PartyNextDoor. It also marks his first full-length solo release 2023’s For All the Dogs.