00:00I didn't even tell my label until a week before we put it out.
00:04What was that call like?
00:06It was amazing.
00:07Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're exploring surprise album drops that soaked up all the attention.
00:13For this list, we're talking about albums that were a complete surprise or bucked tradition
00:18by having a very minimal lead-up before release.
00:21They don't love you like I love you.
00:24Slow down, they don't love you like I love you.
00:26Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z
00:30Months before his famous spouse changed music with her own surprise drop,
00:35the powerhouse rapper and executive Jay-Z partnered with Samsung for a massive collaboration.
00:40You know, my pop left when I was young, so he didn't teach me how to be a man nor how to raise a child.
00:49The tech company bought copies of his newest offering, Magna Carta Holy Grail,
00:54for a million Galaxy smartphone users via an app before anyone had even heard it elsewhere.
01:00Magna Carta checked in at number one and beat out Sara Bareilles' The Blessed Unrest,
01:04whose successful lead single Brave had given that release almost three months of lead-up.
01:09Honestly, I wanna say you'll be brave.
01:13Jay-Z's album finished in the top 10 of 2013's best-selling albums.
01:25Kamikaze, Eminem
01:27After a disastrous traditional rollout for his 2017 comeback album, Revival,
01:32Eminem jumped on the surprise release bandwagon the next year.
01:35Kamikaze dropped on August 31st, 2018.
01:38You marvel that, Eddie Brock is you, and I'm the suit, so call me Vim!
01:44Despite mixed reviews, fans and critics were thrilled to see Eminem back to his roots.
01:49The album wasn't just a shock for its unexpected release, but for its aggressive jabs at other artists.
01:55As always, courting controversy ended up helping the album stay in the conversation.
02:00Hell, they're getting steel-wheel like a hubcap, or a mudflat beat strangler, a tactic,
02:04so this ain't gonna feel like a love tap.
02:05Eminem's album interrupted the rollouts of albums by Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott,
02:11and ultimately, Eminem ended the year with the best-selling rap album.
02:23Endless and Blonde
02:24Frank Ocean
02:25The R&B wunderkind followed up his first album with two unannounced releases in two days.
02:31Frank Ocean dropped Endless, a minimalist visual album, to fulfill the end of his contentious
02:37contract with Def Jam Records.
02:39The next day, he released Blonde, which may just be his masterpiece.
02:43I thought that I was dreaming when you said you loved me.
02:48He had stiff competition, though.
02:50Britney Spears released Glory, and Barbra Streisand debuted a star-studded celebrity duet
02:55dance album during the same time frame.
02:57I'm your fan, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can.
03:02However, Ocean's Blonde ended up being regarded as one of the best albums of that year and the
03:07entire decade.
03:09All the things I didn't mean to say, I didn't mean to do.
03:15Songs of Innocence, U2.
03:17With their tongue firmly planted in their cheek, Rolling Stone called this the defining
03:22album of 2014.
03:30But that wasn't a celebration of its lyrical content or artistic innovation.
03:35It was because of the complete uproar it caused when millions of people awoke to find it already
03:40downloaded to their music libraries.
03:42U2's new album, Songs of Innocence, is going out for free to a half a billion people in
03:52the next five seconds.
03:54Shockingly, the giveaway may have had the desired effect.
03:58Not only did the release of Songs of Innocence dominate the media cycle, but Time Magazine reported
04:03that more Apple users listened to the unexpected U2 album than Taylor Swift's 1989.
04:12Not technically a surprise, all signs pointed to Ariana Grande's music being on hold after
04:28completing several back-to-back albums.
04:30She had even said she did not plan on a new release due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
04:35Bucking a standard marketing ramp up, the erotically charged collection positions was announced
04:40mere weeks before its release in the fall of 2020.
04:47The album, while polarizing, overshadowed release rollouts by established artists like Kylie Minogue
04:53and Sam Smith.
04:54Smith's album, Love Goes, was released on the same day and was blocked from achieving a top spot in the UK
05:00due to Grande's release.
05:01GnX – Kendrick Lamar
05:11After spending 2024 dominating Drake in a relentless duel of diss tracks, Kendrick Lamar's victory lap
05:18included booking the Super Bowl halftime show and dropping this.
05:21The only lead-up GnX got was a teaser trailer on November 22nd.
05:33A half hour later, the album dropped, putting the period on the end of a stellar year for the
05:38Pulitzer Prize-winning artist.
05:40It was an instant smash success.
05:49All 12 of its songs appeared on the Hot 100.
05:52This domination actually kept holiday hits out of the top positions
05:56and ended the months-long chart runs of popular leftover summer hits from other artists.
06:01I'ma make you say love, I'm not even trippin', I won't stress you up.
06:08Lemonade – Beyoncé
06:10How did she do this twice?
06:12Three years after Beyoncé dropped her self-titled album
06:15and a companion visual album on an unsuspecting public,
06:18she did the exact same thing again with Lemonade.
06:21You just gotta let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, baby.
06:27In that time, the myth of celebrities surrounding her had grown to a fever pitch.
06:32Songs with presumed real-life parallels to her life with husband Jay-Z,
06:36as well as unlikely but incredible collaborations,
06:39made this one irresistible for diehard and casual fans alike.
06:43A woman dealing with mistresses and side chicks and ultimately forgiving the man.
06:49So, as a fan, a lot of people are thinking,
06:52is she talking about Jay?
06:54There's a big chance she could be.
06:56Any artist wanting to make an impact on the charts
06:58would avoid a Beyoncé release date like The Plague.
07:01So, the unplanned release ended up usurping traction for a planned album from Ferg.
07:06This was the perfect storm of celebrity, artistry, and unparalleled hype.
07:10Can't you see there's no other man above you?
07:13What a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you.
07:16Antie – Rihanna
07:18It's hard for an established artist to try something new.
07:21After years of radio-friendly hits, Rihanna's 2016 surprise eighth album
07:26was a turn toward the more emotional and experimental.
07:29Baby, don't you leave.
07:31Don't let me suck here in the streets.
07:34Antie dominated music coverage the week of its release.
07:38Despite strong singles and strong marketing campaigns,
07:41Sia's This Is Acting and Charlie Poof's much-anticipated debut album
07:45were drowned out during Rihanna's banner week.
07:47It's a little ironic considering Sia's biggest single,
07:57Cheap Thrills, was originally written for
08:00and rejected by none other than Rihanna herself.
08:02Baby, I don't need that I'll be lost to have fun tonight.
08:06I'll watch it down.
08:08Antie went on to spend a record-breaking amount of time on the album charts.
08:13Folklore and Evermore – Taylor Swift
08:15Releasing one lockdown album as a serve, Taylor Swift gave us two.
08:20The first of the pair, Folklore, marked a turning point for her sound and focus.
08:30It immediately broke streaming records and spent eight weeks at the number one spot.
08:35Not only that, it also stole some of the thunder from rapper Logic's retirement album No Pressure.
08:41Bitch, I did it, I made it, I'm loved and I'm hated, I started from the bottom,
08:46now my neighborhood is gated it.
08:47Swift's album Evermore came out in December of 2020, marking her second of the year.
08:53This time, she contacted Paul McCartney about the release date,
08:57who moved the release of his own album so as not to compete.
09:00So I was going to put it out on my birthday, which I think was the 10th.
09:06And then she said, but I found out you were going to put it out on the 10th.
09:10So I moved to the 18th.
09:12Upon Evermore's release, Swift became the first woman to have two albums in the Billboard
09:18Top 3 in the same year.
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09:36Beyonce, Beyonce
09:38With her self-titled album, Queen Bee proved that a big enough star with great enough work
09:43didn't need the bells and whistles of a traditional rollout.
09:46The moment this dual album and visual album dropped, the world seemed to stop.
09:56Everyone else's releases became an afterthought.
09:59Childish Gambino's album, Because the Internet, was one of the casualties.
10:09Even positive coverage of that album had to mention its unintentional bad timing.
10:14Released two weeks before, Britney Spears' much maligned Britney Jean was in the middle
10:19of an underperforming run of sales.
10:29Beyonce may not have been the first surprise album ever made, but in terms of the industry,
10:34it may be the most influential.
10:44Which of your faves put out the best surprise album?
10:47Let us know in the comments!
10:48Respectfully!
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