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Surprise album

A surprise album or surprise release is an album or single with little or no prior announcement, marketing or promotion.[1] The strategy contrasts traditional album releases, which typically feature weeks or months of advertising in the form of singles, music videos, tour announcements and album pre-sales.

The concept of the surprise album originated in minimally publicized releases such as Radiohead's In Rainbows (2007), and became a widely adopted strategy after Beyoncé became the first artist to release an album with no prior announcement with her self-titled record (2013). The surprise-release strategy was borne out of a desire to combat music leaks and reinstate focus on the album format in an era dominated by singles and streaming, with artists subsequently emulating the approach as a marketing tactic. Analysts considered the surprise album to be an innovative strategy that transformed how music is released in the digital age. Over time, its rising dominance within the music industry led some journalists to highlight the increasing ambiguity of its definition and the variable effectiveness of artists' attempts at the move.

History

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2001–2013: In Rainbows and precursors

[edit]
Radiohead on tour for their 2007 surprise album In Rainbows

In 2001, the English musician David Bowie intended to reimagine some of his earlier recordings with a live band as quickly as possible and release it as a surprise.[2][3] This album, Toy, was delayed several times by Bowie's label Virgin EMI Records, and eventually saw an official release in 2021.[4] A press release from Bowie's team upon release said: "Unfortunately, in 2001 the concept of the 'surprise drop' album release and the technology to support it were still quite a few years off, making it impossible to release Toy, as the album was now named, out to fans as instantly as David wanted."[5]

The English rock band Radiohead announced their 2007 studio album In Rainbows ten days prior to its release, which DIY magazine described as "a pretty unexpected move".[1] Some have retrospectively characterized it as the first surprise album,[1][6][7] while others describe it as an unconventional release strategy that preceded the surprise format.[8][9][10][11] Radiohead's bassist, Colin Greenwood, said the band had several motivations, including the increased popularity of the internet as a tool for discovering music, frustrations with the traditional release and promotion format, the freedom of not being signed to a record label at the time, a desire to do something special and unique, and an interest in broadcasting their music directly to listeners globally at the same time.[12] It also served as a countermeasure to Internet leaks of albums, which had become prevalent at the time.[1] In Rainbows is also credited for starting the pay-what-you-want model.[13]

After ending a tumultuous relationship with Interscope Records in 2007, the American band Nine Inch Nails independently released Ghosts I–IV and The Slip in 2008, following a two-week countdown teaser. Both were released free, with the option to purchase higher-quality digital or physical editions, and were released under a Creative Commons license to allow fans the ability to edit as they desired.[14] The Nine Inch Nails manager, Jim Guerinot, said they hoped to pre-empt a leak and control the marketing: "Internet searches peak around the leak, not around the single or the album. By the time the album comes out, it's done."[15]

In 2011, the American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West advertised false release dates for their collaborative album Watch the Throne, in part an effort to pre-empt leaks. This strategy inspired the singer Frank Ocean to advance the release of his first album Channel Orange (2012) one week earlier than its publicized release date.[16]

On January 8, 2013, Bowie surprise-released the music video for the single "Where Are We Now?" on YouTube, together with an album announcement for The Next Day, to be released two months later.[17] Bowie had recorded the album between 2011 and 2012 in secrecy, requiring personnel involved to sign non-disclosure agreements.[18][19] At the time, the public was convinced that Bowie had effectively retired.[20] Following the album announcement, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis described it as the "biggest surprise the pop industry has seen in years".[21]

2013: Beyoncé and popularization

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Beyoncé's self-titled studio album (2013) is often credited with popularizing surprise albums.

Beyoncé is credited with the invention of the surprise album with no prior announcement, leading to widespread popularization of the strategy.[22][23][24] Following the leak of her previous album 4 one month before its scheduled release date, Beyoncé began working on her next album in secrecy to prevent a repeat. She shared details of the album only with a small circle of people and often shifted the release date, which was only finalized a week before its release. The album was kept a complete secret from the general public until the moment it was released.[25] Eponymously titled Beyoncé, the album was uploaded exclusively to the iTunes Store on December 13, 2013, just after midnight in the United States and became the fastest-selling album in the history of the iTunes Store within three days of its release.[26] The commercial success of the album was a factor in shifting the global release date for all albums to Friday.[27]

It is near-impossible to overstate the importance of Beyoncé's surprise drop. There was simply no precedent for an artist on or even near Bey’s level releasing any kind of secret musical project on an unsuspecting pop world... The album format, increasingly viewed by industry leaders as an inconvenient means to an end, was suddenly exciting again. It was arguably the single most pivotal moment in all of 21st-century pop music.

—Andrew Unterberger, Billboard[28]

Beyoncé later explained that her intent was to reinstate the idea of an album release as a significant, exciting event that had lost meaning in the face of hype created around singles.[29] Harley Brown of Vulture wrote, "Ever since Beyoncé's self-titled visual album appeared like a Christmas miracle on the iTunes store at midnight on a Thursday in December of 2013, the rules for how to release a record were rewritten literally overnight."[30] According to Vulture writer Lindsey Zoladz, the release was made possible by, "presumably, an entire rain forest's worth of nondisclosure agreements".[8] Beyoncé's name became synonymous with surprise albums, adapting the release format for her follow-up album Lemonade (2016) and The Carters' Everything Is Love (2018).[1][8]

2014–2019: Widespread adoption

[edit]

The success of Beyoncé encouraged many artists to surprise-release their albums, with the strategy becoming an increasingly regular part of the music industry.[31] In 2014, industry analysts began considering the surprise album strategy not just as an unprecedented move, but rather a mainstay of the release ecosystem.[32] However, some music executives characterized the surprise release as a "one-trick pony", questioning its lasting impact if the strategy became more widespread.[33] Surprise releases from this year included Thom Yorke's Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, D'Angelo's Black Messiah, Skrillex's Recess, J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive and Kid Cudi's Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon.[32][34][35] The response to surprise albums were varied in 2014; Skrillex saw his highest sales from the surprise release, while Kid Cudi had his smallest debut sales week.[34]

U2 performing at the Apple product launch at which Songs of Innocence was surprise announced in September 2014

Irish rock band U2 partnered with Apple Inc. to surprise-release their 2014 studio album Songs of Innocence as an automatic download for all 500 million iTunes users. Many users did not want the album and several months after the release were frustrated that they could not delete the album from their devices.[1][36]

In 2015, the music industry had fully entered the "surprise-album era", according to Vulture's Lindsay Zoladz.[8] Artists increasingly used the format in different ways, such as by releasing music early in anticipation of leaks (as with Björk's Vulnicura and Madonna's Rebel Heart) or surprise-releasing music online for free (as with Miley Cyrus' Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz).[8][37] Hip-hop artists particularly saw success with the surprise album format.[38] Six out of the seven rap albums to reach number one on the Billboard 200 in 2015 were released with little-to-no promotion,[38] including Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, which successively broke the record for the most streams in a single day on Spotify.[39]

Music critics described varying reactions to surprise albums in this period.[40][41] Some described the surprise release as an innovative strategy that benefited fans, artists and record labels alike.[42] Others said that while surprise albums were originally unusual and exciting events, their rising prevalence had led to a collective fatigue.[8][40] Salon's Nico Lang described the surprise release strategy as having become "broken" and "gimmicky" in 2015, given that many artists merely surprise-released teasers, which stood in contrast to Beyoncé, whose surprise album was effective because of its fully secretive development.[43] Zoladz and Lang also noted that surprise releases could be stressful both for music critics, who are under pressure to review the new material quickly, and for fans, who feel compelled to engage with the hype immediately.[8][43] NME's Jeremy Allen wrote that some artists' attempts at surprise releases fell short of expectations that year—including Tyler, The Creator's Cherry Bomb and Earl Sweatshirt's I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside—as they relied too heavily on the surprise format to capture attention.[40] Allen added that surprise releases could get fans' hopes up unrealistically, citing Rihanna's teased release of "Bitch Better Have My Money", where fans anticipated the release of a full album rather than a single.[40]

By 2016, surprise albums had become the norm in the music industry, with many critics describing it as "the year of the surprise album".[9][44][45][46][47] That year saw many high-profile surprise releases, including Beyoncé's Lemonade, Drake's Views, Rihanna's Anti, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, James Blake's The Colour in Anything, Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book, Skepta's Konnichiwa, Kendrick Lamar's untitled unmastered, and Frank Ocean's Endless and Blonde [48][49][50] Billboard's Andrew Unterberger said that artists who were still releasing lead singles and going on press tours in 2016 began to look old-world compared to the artists who surprised-released their music.[31] Marc Hogan of Pitchfork noted that the releases from Beyoncé, Drake, Radiohead and James Blake all had specific release times that put them at the same level as appointment television.[51]

In an article for The Ringer, Lindsay Zoladz wrote that many artists who released surprise albums in 2016 had prioritized promotional innovation over artistic innovation. Zoladz said that Lemonade was an effective surprise album because of its unexpected sonic and thematic experimentation, while the surprise albums from Radiohead, James Blake and Chance The Rapper were unadventurous and predictable. Zoladz concluded that at a time when the music landscape was oversaturated with surprise albums, Beyoncé had reinvigorated the format and guaranteed its continued pervasiveness.[49]

This year also saw the surprise release approach being adopted outside of the music industry. The production of the film 10 Cloverfield Lane was kept completely secret until a trailer was posted online two months before its release. American comedian Louis C.K. also used the strategy when he sent fans an email announcing the immediate availability of the web series Horace and Pete starring Steve Buscemi. Funny Or Die did not announce the production of the satirical film Donald Trump's The Art of The Deal: The Movie until its release, with screenwriter Joe Randazzo explaining that its surprise release was intended to create an exciting and unifying event for viewers.[52]

In 2018, American rapper Eminem surprised-released his tenth studio album Kamikaze, and in 2020, released the follow-up Music to Be Murdered By. Eminem explained that surprise albums allowed fans to listen to new music without preconceptions,[53] telling Shade 45: "I feel like when an album is coming out, if I give people notice. They start seeing the track list and they know it's coming, I feel like, my best shot to avoid it is just to drop it, instead of people thinking to themselves like 'if he got this person on the album, I ain't f**king with it.' It gives everybody too much time to think about it and their expectations of what they think it should be, I will never meet that. So this is kind of theory I have based ever since Revival".[54]

By 2019, some publications questioned if the surprise album release format had peaked in popularity and effectiveness.[55] Unterberger said that the surprise album had fallen out of favor amongst major artists in the latter years of the 2010s decade.[56] Acknowledging this decline, Sam Murphy of The Music Network attributed it to the evolving promotional strategies in the streaming era. With the growing prominence of bundles and pre-adds, surprise drops became less feasible, as artists relied on more calculated pre-release marketing efforts.[57] Vulture's Harley Brown attributed the decline to the vinyl revival, as the vinyl production and distribution process can take months, precluding secretive releases.[55]

2020: Pandemic period

[edit]
See also: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the music industry
A photograph of Taylor Swift in a snake-pattern suit
Taylor Swift's surprise album Folklore (2020) marked a departure from her previously extensive rollout campaigns, exemplifying the lasting ubiquity of the release format

As the rise of social media platform TikTok underscored the prevailing attention economy in 2020, artists increasing saw success by releasing music quickly to capitalize on sudden flashpoints, rather than sticking to methodically planned schedules.[58] Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic limited albums' rollout campaigns and physical releases.[59] These factors contributed to the surprise release of several records in 2020, including Ariana Grande's Positions, Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red, X's Alphabetland, Childish Gambino's 3.15.20, Drake's Dark Lane Demo Tapes, Bad Bunny's Las Que No Iban a Salir, Future's High Off Life, Carly Rae Jepsen's Dedicated Side B, and Run the Jewels' RTJ4.[59][60]

Taylor Swift announced her 2020 studio album Folklore a day before its release, with its follow-up Evermore also being surprise-released five months later. Both albums were secretly recorded in isolation during the pandemic. Writing for Rolling Stone, Elias Leight described Swift's moves as an acknowledgement of the ubiquity of surprise albums, given that Swift was a "rare holdout" among major artists and an adherent of extensive promotional campaigns and lengthy release cycles.[58] Vulture's Justin Curto suggested that Swift's capitulation to the surprise album trend could signal the end of the traditional rollout.[59]

[edit]

The surprise-release format experienced a drop in popularity following the pandemic, as artists relied on teasers and announcements to keep fans' attentions.[61][62][63] In 2021, Highsnobiety's Sam Davies considered the surprise album era to have ended, explaining that major artists had instead resorted to extensively teasing their projects and conducting elaborate campaigns, such as Kanye West's listening parties for Donda and Drake's national billboard campaign for Certified Lover Boy.[62] Artists who continued to surprise-release music did not see the same commercial success, with Drake's follow-up surprise album Honestly, Nevermind (2022) debuting with a third of the sales of Certified Lover Boy.[64]

Several journalists noted that Beyoncé's 2022 studio album Renaissance had a more traditional rollout than her previous albums, with a release date announcement, lead single and pre-orders.[65][66][67][68] The New York Times saw the rollout as a reflection of the album's retro sound and themes, with Beyoncé eschewing a digital release in favor of elaborate vinyl and CD packages.[66] Billboard writers thought that the release strategy for Renaissance was intended to counter the prevailing surprise album trend popularized by Beyoncé's own 2013 album,[67] with The Wall Street Journal's Neil Shah suggesting that this may signal the end of the surprise album for good.[65]

Despite this decline, late 2024 and 2025 saw the release of a few high-profile surprise albums, including Kendrick Lamar's GNX, Justin Bieber's Swag and Tyler, the Creator's Don't Tap the Glass.[63] Billboard writers discussed whether this marked a return to the surprise album. Stephen Daw characterized it as a pivot in industry strategy, with artists being fatigued again by traditional album campaigns and wanting to generate attention in an increasingly fractured media ecosystem. Andrew Unterberger commented that at this point in time, Beyoncé acts as a bellwether for industry standards, with the release of her upcoming Act III project indicating the future release trends for the music industry.[69]

Reception

[edit]

Rachel Finn of DIY said that while surprise albums were becoming too common to be truly surprising, "it gives artists breathing space to really make an impact and retain control over the way their music is released, pre-empting album leaks and taking their album out of the pre-album press cycle to let the music speak for itself."[1] Entrepreneur and freelance writer Cortney Harding wrote in a Medium article that while surprise albums give artists more flexibility, the strategy can usually only pay off for well-known musicians and can be problematic when the album is exclusive to a specific streaming service.[70] David Sackllah of Consequence noted that, of the many artists to attempt a surprise release, rock bands failed to match the level of excitement of In Rainbows, while Beyoncé took the concept further and opened the floodgates for others.[13] As noted by music journalist Lindsay Zoladz, the definition of "surprise album" is vague.[71][8] Zoladz expressed criticism toward the overuse of the term that began to dilute its meaning as music journalists were using "surprise album" to describe albums that were previously announced. Zoladz stated:

"'Surprise album' has become such a ubiquitous term that its meaning becomes more vague with each passing tweet. (Last month the Chicago Tribune even used it to describe Drake's Views, an album that not only had a previously announced release date, but which Drake himself had been teasing for the better part of two years.) But even when the phrase is used more precisely, it's becoming a bit hollow; we're living through a deluge of albums — even something as long promised as Rihanna's Anti — that lay claim to that trendy term 'surprise,' but have, like Lemonade, given us a lot of hints that they were coming."[71]

Data from Luminate showed that surprise albums can make a larger impact than traditionally released albums. For Beyoncé and GNX, album-equivalent units consistently increased for several weeks as news about the releases spread, where as non-surprise albums did not see the same increases.[72]

According to Variety's Robert Steiner, the surprise album is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that can either add to or detract from an artist's legacy. Steiner explained that what makes a surprise album successful is opportune timing, an invested fan base, and good music. Steiner provided examples for surprise albums that benefited from particular timing: Beyoncé released Beyoncé during a peak of her cultural impact and Lemonade after rumors of Jay-Z's infidelity, Taylor Swift released Folklore during the COVID-19 pandemic after tepid reception to her previous albums Reputation (2017) and Lover (2019), and Kendrick Lamar released GNX after his feud with Drake.[72] Jessica Chou of Refinery29 characterized the surprise album as the "ultimate status symbol", with artists surprise-releasing their records to show that they can be highly successful without needing to conduct promotional campaigns.[37]

See also

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References

[edit]
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Sources

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