Drake: Return of the Stunt King
– 2 min read
Drake is polarising, he is problematic, but he is also an expert troll and stunt king. This is what he’s done throughout his career – figure out a way to manipulate a moment to his advantage, unpredictably, leaning into his understanding of how people respond to him on social media. And we’re seeing it play out this week.
In Toronto, especially, it’s taken over our city, but as it has been for years, what Drake does in Toronto goes well beyond our borders. It started blowing up here yesterday and now, TMZ, Rolling Stone, Twitter, TikTok, and more are all over it. Basically a pile of ice blocks, LOL.
But first, the controlled explosion last week that made headlines which authorities promptly confirmed was for a video shoot. Then, the ice blocks that were set up on Sunday night at a downtown parking lot started going viral yesterday when Drake confirmed that the melt would eventually reveal the release date of the new album, Iceman. Which then prompted huge crowds of people to make their way over with blowtorches and ice picks. Some guy also dropped the key to a car in there and gave the car away to the person who found the key. That may have been a coordinated stunt in and of itself, very possible – and the speculation about how legit it is adds to the shenanigans. So Drake the stunt king is spawning his own pretender stunt kings.
There’s now security in the parking lot around the structure and, again, massive crowds and also some tourists who are making their way into the area, all of them eager to post on socials and give Drake the free marketing he might not deserve or need but… this is how it works, this was the plan. And, once again, he got what he wanted out of the attention economy. Which he is probably smugging about in his mansion right now, because as most of us have known for a while, whether you like it or not, and I get it that a lot of people don’t, I’m not here to argue with you or change your mind about how you feel about him, he’s not my favourite either. But we’re here to gossip, and the gossip that was predicted and declared a year ago of demise and decline was premature and inaccurate.
What else happened today…
Will Ferrell predicted the future many years ago, according to Molly Shannon. (Pajiba)
Bridal fashion is so much more creative and interesting on the runway than it is at an actual wedding – and I’ll include my own wedding in that statement. My wedding dress, that is almost 25 years old, is boring compared to most of these looks. (Go Fug Yourself)
MC wrote earlier in his weekly column about Justin Bieber and the impact he had on a generation. He’s definitely not wrong – as Jessika Hardy writes, his Coachella sets were healing, for more people than just JB. (Refinery 29)
Kash Patel suing The Atlantic over a story about his drinking has reminded me that I have yet to read The Atlantic’s story about his drinking. (Celebitchy)
If you also have not read The Atlantic’s story about Kash Patel’s drinking, you can do it here. (The Atlantic)
