Why “surprise albums” still work

Recently, Kendrick Lamar released his sixth album, GNX, completely by surprise. He did so without leveraging singles, announcements, press events, or promotional activities to build up to its release. The album garnered significant attention, partly because Kendrick Lamar is the most celebrated and influential rapper of his generation, and partly because the mainstream music industry had not seen the release of a "surprise album"—as they are called—from such a prominent figure in years. GNX comes two years after his previous album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, and contains 12 tracks. The only promotional activity was the release of a one-minute video for the title track on YouTube shortly after the album dropped. Forgoing the promotional phase is almost unthinkable for many artists (even those as prominent as Kendrick Lamar), which is why surprise albums remain uncommon marketing strategies. At the same time, this release method allows artists to fully focus on recording the album, avoiding excessive distractions from necessary promotional initiatives. On February 9th, Kendrick Lamar will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, where he will likely debut songs from GNX.

Where Surprise Albums Come From

A decade ago, "surprise albums" were very trendy, to the point of becoming relatively common in the U.S. music scene. The artist who did the most to popularize this release strategy was Beyoncé. Her albums between 2013 and 2018—namely the self-titled Beyoncé, the acclaimed Lemonade, and Everything Is Love, co-released with her husband Jay-Z—all dropped unexpectedly, surprising industry publications and insiders alike. However, due to Beyoncé's frequent use of this approach, surprise albums eventually lost their novelty in the eyes of the public. By 2020, they had become so frequent that they were no longer seen as groundbreaking but were instead viewed as equivalent to more traditional release methods. Additionally, the term "surprise album" became so overused by music publications and industry professionals that it lost its original meaning. For example, some albums were labeled as surprise releases even when their launches were hinted at through various elements designed to build hype, such as cryptic social media posts by the artists. Yet this release method was initially created specifically to prevent specialized media and numerous online blogs from leaking details about albums that artists were working on, allowing them to focus on the creative process with clarity.

From certain perspectives, surprise albums were indeed innovative. Before they became commonplace, choosing to skip the promotional phase was a risky move for many artists, as it meant forgoing the chance to generate anticipation and excitement around the release, potentially leading to lower visibility and reduced commercial impact. Without the support of structured marketing campaigns, achieving high sales or good chart positions wasn’t always easy, which could also compromise an album's longevity on the market. By focusing solely on the album’s quality—thereby avoiding time-consuming travel, interviews, and promotional events—artists took the risk of relying entirely on word-of-mouth and the public’s immediate reaction, challenging traditional industry norms and proving that artistic impact could outweigh the marketing machine.

A well-known example of a successful surprise album was In Rainbows, the seventh album by Radiohead, released in 2007 and cited as one of the earliest instances where the benefits of this release strategy were effectively utilized. Another frequently mentioned example is The Next Day by David Bowie, who worked on the album (his 15th) between 2011 and 2012 with great secrecy, requiring everyone involved—technicians, musicians, managers, and more—to sign non-disclosure agreements. Other notable surprise albums include Songs Of Innocence by U2 (2014), If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late by Drake (2015), A Seat at the Table by Solange (2016), and Anti by Rihanna (2016), among others. In Italy, this release strategy has been less widely adopted, but perhaps for this reason, the few surprise albums that have been released have generated significant attention—for example, Rehab by Ketama126 (2018), Noi, loro, gli altri by Marracash (2021), or Liberato's second album (2022).