Photo Credit: Harmony Gerber / CC by 3.0
Drake has surprised fans with the release of a previously unannounced album, Honestly, Nevermind, and the 14-track effort is already making waves on streaming services and social media.
Honestly, Nevermind became available to fans at midnight today, shortly after Toronto-born Drake – who expanded his pact with Universal Music Group last month – took to social media to inform fans of the imminent drop. Notably, the project, which marks the 35-year-old’s seventh studio album, didn’t receive promotion in the form of a pre-release marketing campaign or even a lead single.
Time will tell whether the approach pays off for the profit-hungry UMG and the much-followed artist, who boasts a staggering 58 million monthly listeners on Spotify. But as mentioned, the album is racking up streams on platforms like Apple Music, as “Sticky” was positioned at the top of the service’s “Best New Songs” playlist at the time of writing.
Drake’s “Calling My Name” is currently ranked third on the same playlist (Lizzo secured the second spot), against fifth for “Jimmy Cooks” (featuring 21 Savage, the only officially billed guest artist on Honestly, Nevermind.) “Sticky” likewise scored the uppermost slot on Apple’s “Today’s Hits” playlist, and it’ll be worth examining the details of the splash that the album has made on the service as well as Spotify once the appropriate data is unveiled.
From a strategic perspective, the involved parties may have settled upon a no-promotion surprise release due to the stylistic direction of Honestly, Nevermind, which some fans are claiming represents a departure from Drake’s prior works. A promotional campaign (or even a single) could have therefore dissuaded diehard supporters from streaming the project in its entirety.
“I thought Drake was finna rap his ass off. He gave us Forever 21, Hot Topic, H&M ass music 🤦🏾♂️,” weighed in one dissatisfied listener.
“Drake missed and didn’t even hit rim. Just straight air ball with this album,” stated another critical observer.
“Drake has to be trying to get out a contract with that album. That’s not even a mixtape,” criticized a third individual.
“Drake’s new album is such a vibe. If your taste in music is not diverse just say that babe!” penned a fan of the opposite opinion.
Regardless of the precise motivation behind the no-warning album drop, it’ll be interesting to see if UMG continues to embrace the “surprise release” model for its biggest stars, who evidently needn’t manufacture viral TikTok videos in order to get their music to fans.
Similarly, with Honestly, Nevermind having released (sans promotion) just 287 days after Drake’s sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, it looks as though the four-time Grammy winner (and 47-time nominee) needn’t concern himself with the alleged UMG-driven holdups that have purportedly delayed the debut of other artists’ albums.