Drake Opens Up About the Creative Process Behind His ‘Iceman’ Livestreams: ‘Dying for a Challenge’

Drake sought to reinvent his album rollout style with the three Iceman episodes released earlier this year. The 6 God opened up about his creative process and his intentions with the livestreams in a rare interview with Complex on Tuesday (Nov. 18).

“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.”

The OVO boss 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.”

Drake kicked off the Iceman rollout with a livestream on July 4, which saw him preview his “What Did I Miss?” single that arrived on July 5.

Later in July, a second stream found Drizzy working in a factory before a woman danced in a drained pool to what we now know is “Which One” featuring Central Cee. He closed out the episode moving through a London airport while previewing an unreleased track.

“I think I am always capable of recognizing 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,” he added. “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.”

Drake returned for episode three in September, which saw him cruising the streets of Italy and previewing plenty of tunes, including the Cash Cobain-assisted “Somebody Loves Me” remix as well as “Dog House” featuring Julia Wolf and YEAT.

Elsewhere in his Complex interview, Drizzy explained that he enjoyed the building anticipation and conspiracy theories surrounding the album within his fan base, compared to the traditional release of a single and accompanying music video.

“I watch murder docs a lot and as you get invested you start to try and solve things before you even know where it’s headed or what the answers are. It’s like this sleuth energy — ‘What did I learn? What did I miss?’ No pun intended,” he joked. “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. Not that those aren’t lovely sometimes.”

Iceman‘s release date remains a mystery. However, Drake posted a series of photos of himself playing tennis with Sexyy Red on Tuesday, which fueled speculation about a possible upcoming collaboration.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.