There's already been a fair amount of discussion online about the extreme marketing scheme around the single. It’s been used over 380 thousand times on TikTok. The new single took its spot atop the Billboard chart last week, and the accompanying video is currently sitting at 51 million views on YouTube. Particular is the way that they all employ a consistent aesthetic style, something new for the artist.ĭoes the image’s composition define the subject of the image itself? Drake gets lonely too, but how lonely? It’s a question answered perhaps by the kind of opulence Aubrey displays in his new music video for " Toosie Slide." Shot at his Kennedy Compound in Toronto, lovingly dubbed by himself as "The Embassy," Drake right-foot-up, left-foot-slides his way through his gargantuan, gaudy home. This new slew of videos-"War," "Chicago Freestyle," "When to Say When," and "Toosie Slide"-are shot on film, deeply set in winter, and caked in a lonely luxury. Drake’s had big music video moments (“ Hotline Bling!," ” God's Plan!"), but it seems that now he’s trying to truly hone in on what a Drake Music Video looks like. Like any good Pop artist, throughout the years Drake's "sound" shapes and shifts depending on whatever sounds are popular at the time, and his music videos and promotional material have generally followed suit.
Now, we are entering the era of Drake developing his own set of aesthetics and signifiers. Here he is at the grayscale sushi bar, or sullenly putting cash in his safe and out in front of the Marcy Projects by himself, in the video for "When to Say When & Chicago Freestyle." Drake has always been focused on his image, but as of late he’s clearly been more focused on images.