'Her Loss' Album Rollout Breakdown

From start to finish the promotional run for Drake and 21 Savage’s joint album Her Loss has been full of teasers – practically to the point of trolling the internet.

Her Loss was first revealed midway through the 'Jimmy Cooks' music video. The song was a fan favourite off Honestly Nevermind, so of course fans were hyped to see a joint album from the two. Her Loss was released on November 4th – we doubt you missed it because unlike its predecessor Honestly Nevermind, Her Loss was given a crazy promotional run.

With album rollouts you never know what to expect. Drake has notoriously dabbled in different genres, surprise releases and various personas. This time round he and 21 are trolls. We’re talking fake interviews, numerous fake performances and even a Vogue cover.

Is there a method to the madness? Let’s explore.

HOWARD STERN:

With questions pulled from other Howard Stern interviews, Drake and 21 can be seen in what looks like Stern’s studio, discussing the ‘highest tier of top-givers,’ monogamy and 21’s status as the ‘pride of London.’

The clips amassed 16 million views but what amazed Stern the most was news outlets reporting on the interview as if it was a true event. To be fair, it probably was factual in content.

PERFORMANCES:

There was also a series of performances, some more believable than others.

Two days before the album’s release clips of Drake and 21 introducing their would-be Tiny Desk performance began circulating on social media. As sick as such a performance would be, to the trained eye the background is ever so slightly different. Although NPR put out a statement dispelling the rumours, they did extend an invitation to the two so hopefully we can get that performance forreal someday.

Shortly after the album dropped Drake and 21 followed up with two more faux performances. First was a performance of ‘On BS’ for SNL, which was even introduced by Michael B Jordan.

For their second faux performance they graced the COLORS studio stage with a performance of Privileged Rappers.

VOGUE

Perhaps the most controversial of all was the Vogue cover. Drake took to Instagram to personally thank Vogue and Anna Wintour for their ‘love and support on this historic moment.’

Again, this was completely believable until further inspection. When copies hit the street soon after it was quickly revealed that the ‘historic moment’ was a previous Vogue edition with Her Loss scribbled over the pages.

21 also did a fake appearance on their widely imitated What’s in My Bag series and gave a hilarious shoutout to Charlotte’s Web.

It turns out that Vogue and Anna Wintour did not infact cosign their mock-up Vogue cover. Parent company Conde Nast have now launched a $4 million copyright infringement lawsuit against the two rappers. It has been reported that Conde Nast are likely to win their suit too.

As fun and interesting as it has been to watch this faux PR run unfold, we’ve been left with one last question. Is imitation the highest form of flattery? Or does the promotion and excitement really lie in the artists themselves instead of the platforms? Considering how established Drake is he likely pulled this off for his and our entertainment.