Photo: Noam Galai / Contributor (Getty Images)
The latest surprise album drop comes from Solange who released When I Get Home today at midnight. Taking a page out of big sis Beyonce’s marketing playbook, the experimental R&B songstress’ fourth full-length album came out of nowhere and is now topping timelines with some calling When I Get Home (which features Pharrell, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Panda Bear, and Sampha) her best yet.
Solange had originally hinted at a fall 2018 follow-up to her 2017 Grammy-winning A Seat at the Table but there was no new news after that date had passed…until yesterday when Solange stealthily took over Black Planet, the largest free African-American social networking site, posting mysterious pictures and video clips of Southern black life through her trademark avant-garde lens.
While Beyonce didn’t invent the down-low release, Queen Bey has perfected it, first with Self-Titled, then with the visual game-changer Lemonade, and most recently with husband Jay-Z for Love is Everything.
The secret album is a big, bold move that relies on brand rather than traditional marketing. Here are some of the other artists who have done it.
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Surprise Album Drops
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'Scorpion' - Drake
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'Lemonade' - Beyonce
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'In Rainbows' - Radiohead
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'Everything is Love' - The Carters
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'Songs of Innocence' - U2
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'The Next Day' - David Bowie
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'Kamikaze' - Eminem
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'Blonde' - Frank Ocean
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'Black Messiah' - D'Angelo and the Vanguard
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'Huncho Jack Jack Huncho' - Travis Scott and Quavo
