In December 2013, Beyoncé’s Drunk In Love abruptly interrupted the routine airplay of holiday songs. On December 13, four years after the release of her studio album 4, and with no follow-up in sight, a two-part visual album under her name was suddenly made available on iTunes without promotion. It immediately debuted at number one on the Billboard and iTunes charts, and it just as quickly became necessary to listen to the album in order to stay up-to-date with the references popping up on social media. The eponymous album was the beginning of a new era for the singer; it was dark, aesthetically driven, and a complete surprise to pop fans around the world, quickly garnering critical and fan acclaim. This unanticipated manner of releasing albums has changed the music world forever, allowing consumers to interact with music in a different way than previous eras.
Since Beyoncé’s self-titled drop, the age of the surprise album has reached its pinnacle. While people assumed it would be an unrepeatable gimmick, many artists have followed suit by releasing albums unannounced. Any Torontonian remembers Drake’s spontaneous release of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late on the eve of Valentine’s Day. Just when you thought it couldn’t be done again, he and Future debuted a surprise 11-track mixtape titled What A Time To Be Alive on September 20.
The Apple Music exclusive premiered at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100, just like Beyoncé’s album. It contains brand new music from both artists, and the mixtape continues to show Drake’s determination to change his image from lonely Toronto-boy to hard-hitting music mogul. Following Beyoncé’s model, the release of a surprise album usually means a new concept for the artist. With If You’re Reading This Drizzy broke away from Cash Money Records to further connect with his own OVO label. In the meantime, he began to tighten his alignment with Apple Music, dropping mid-July tracks like “Hotline Bling” and “Back To Back” exclusively on the new streaming service, while also creating the Beats 1 program OVO Sound Radio. This new era in Drake’s career is linked to the Internet as a medium through which the fans act as promoters for his new and spontaneous branding.
None of these music power plays would be possible without the Internet. Beyoncé did literally “chang[e] the game with that digital drop”—a lyrical boast she crowns herself with in Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself.” The music world has been different for pop enthusiasts and music writers since December 2013—everyone with an ear to the ground for any inkling or speculation of someone ‘pulling a Bey.’ Social media sites where fans follow their favourite artists have become spaces where these surprise releases spread. Right before If You’re Reading Thisdropped, many knew a new mixtape from Drake was approaching in 2015, but the question was when. The connectivity of social media and music streaming has given artists the ability to throw new material online in seconds. The Internet has assumed the role of record stores and music clubs of the past—an album release party is available seven days a week and right at your fingertips. The connectivity of social media and music streaming has given artists the ability to throw any new material online in a flash. These methods demonstrate a sense of faith in fans’ ability to consume art without preparation, while evoking a pre-Internet era sense of excitement for undiscovered content.
Nonetheless, integrating music and social media is a difficult balancing act. It’s easy to see companies and labels attempting to find a place in these millennial driven online spaces—how to speak to their target audience and how to get them to listen in such a fast-paced and overcrowded space is important. Beyoncé and Drake’s PR teams know that dedicated fans are willing to stand by any project, even without traditional promotion. Online, there is a strongly felt need to know everything about your favourite artist as quickly as possible. The surprise album gimmick, paired with social media’s almost invasive reach, has worked for artists since Beyoncé, but other artists have chosen to grab their fans’ attention with a different type of gimmick: the countdown.
This past summer, two songs garnered enough attention to break multiple records—and everyone knew the exact release dates. Taylor Swift’s summer single “Bad Blood” had three weeks of promotion on her Instagram account where she posted photos of her famous best friends starring in the video. While the promoted video broke the VEVO 24-hour view record, with 20.1 million views within a day of its release, the music video was met with harsh criticism over its content and its failure to fully live up to Swift’s hype.
Another song given the same Instagram treatment was Justin Bieber’s first solo single in three years, “What Do You Mean.” The song plays on the same hooks as his summer hit with Diplo and Skrillex, “Where Are Ü Now?”, but has given Bieber the springboard to make the comeback many have been awaiting. Leading up to its release, he had a star-studded line-up hold signs counting down the days to its release in multiple Instagram posts. Both Taylor and Justin’s work was consumed because of anticipation – people were eager to know what these evolving artists were proud of and why so many other famous people were on board.
While the surprise album has certainly changed how we consume music, the pop heavyweights of the world seem to be the ones profiting off of the movement. However, immediate adoption isn’t a given: while Taylor and Justin’s fans are more obsessed than most, these singles act as a way to ease followers into new styles before full albums are released. These singles work because they build and sustain listener interest: you wanted to see what Taylor’s girl squad would get up to in the Instagrammed Sin-City fantasyland, and you wanted to know if our Canadian heartthrob was back on the straight and narrow. The artists wanted to create hype around their content’s release that was geared less towards excitement and more towards satisfaction.
The surprise album is a way to show long-time fans of an artist that there can be spontaneity in a world where connection to live celebrity updates is instant. It combines our rapid-paced viewership with an era prior to mass online campaigning. By placing trust in music streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify, these artists are propelling themselves into the future of music. They are making an argument for fan dedication and the importance of online consumption by people our age. Average people created the impact of these albums through social media; it was not simply a string of celebrities vouching for artistic credibility on Twitter and Instagram. Fans are integral to making an artist’s movement successful by passing on content to one another. As Kanye West put it at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, “Listen to the kids, bro.”
