For close to a year, Drake has been teasing a project widely expected to be titled ‘Iceman’. Far from a standard release cycle, the campaign has used Toronto-based stunts and cryptic digital clues to build a narrative and conversation, with no confirmed release date as of yet.
The rollout began in July 2025 with a “9PM” teaser leading to a YouTube livestream. Rather than a traditional performance, it featured a cinematic look at a real Toronto business: “The Iceman” ice sculpting company, with Drake appearing as an employee.
The stream culminated in a music video premiere, featuring Drake driving an Iceman truck through the streets of Toronto to preview unreleased tracks via radio. The rollout has since included multiple live streams, including a December 2025 stream where the artist discussed final recording as well as potential “episode 4” teasers.
By March 2026 the strategy shifted to cryptic social media posts on Instagram. Recent posts have featured imagery and captions hinting at Drake’s revenge against his haters – including a carousel captioned “What I Was Doing When You Thought I Was Crying.”
Drake has since dropped hints that new music may be dropping soon. He DMed Dylan Garcia, a social media creator who went viral for explaining Drake lyrics to his girlfriend – noting that there will be new breakdowns coming soon, presumably about new music.
How to create anticipation like Drake?
Involve creators in storytelling. By keeping an eye on social media, Drake was able to identify a creator who is already engaging his target audience, and made him part of the teaser campaign.
Leverage livestreams for hints. When an artist goes live on a digital platform, it often creates more urgency for fans to join because it’s more ephemeral. Use them creatively to tease new music or even livestream storytelling pieces.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source musically.com ’
