Rank: 3/5
Aubrey “Drake” Graham released the highly anticipated music video for his most recent hit, “Hotline Bling,” on Monday and, as expected, the Internet broke.
Though the video was subpar, it satiated Drake fans with its trendiness and hype perfectly balanced with ridiculousness, providing the momentum to become the Internet sensation of the moment.
The video opens with several women working at a call center dressed in uniforms comprised of 2015’s hottest trends: high-waisted, light-wash skinny jeans with plain, cropped and fitted T-shirts — a copycat of ’90s ensembles.
Drake pushed the faux-’90s look throughout the video.
He brought back the puffer jacket, similar to the ones worn by Notorious B.I.G. and Method Man. While this might be considered an old school, hip-hop fashion staple, the bright red one worn by Drake combined with light-wash denim, a white Air Jordan T-shirt and tan Timberland boots was questionable.
Was it good? Was it bad? It doesn’t matter. Moncler’s daily online jacket sales more than doubled after the video was released, according to Vanity Fair’s website, proving Drake’s trendsetting effect on millennial culture.
But his most controversial attire included a turtleneck, which spurred several tweets comparing him to ’90s sitcom stars, among other jokes, worn with sweatpants and Timberland boots.
Fans loved it or hated it, but more importantly, they tweeted it.
He self-promoted his OVO clothing line by wearing a black hoodie displaying his owl logo for a few clips, reminding viewers that despite his awful style choices throughout the video, fans were going to buy his clothes and replicate his fashion choices.
To complement his ludacris attire, Drake spent the majority of the video dancing like a fool. Anyone on the Internet the past few days probably saw or shared dozens of GIFs and Vines of Drake’s moves.
He left fans scratching their heads. Why, Drake? Why?
Fresh off of his latest beef with Meek Mill, Drake knew what the Internet would make of his get up.
After showcasing memes dissing Meek Mill during his set at OVO Fest, Drake knew his appearance and actions in “Hotline Bling” would force audiences to partake in their own meme-making, Vine-sharing frenzy.
With a simple set and lack of plot for the video, “Hotline Bling” invited fans to joke about and praise Drake, while ignoring the song they’ve heard hundreds of times before the video’s release.
One of the biggest hits on Twitter was the hastag, #DrakeAlwaysOnBeat. Several videos showing Drake dancing awkwardly to songs with various beats filled timelines.
There’s no doubt some partygoer imitating Drake’s moves will be at your next get-together.
Drake knows his effect on millennial culture. After all, he is arguably 2015’s mascot.
Drake took over the Internet yet again proving the excellence of his public relations team and failure of his stylist and choreographer.