October 18 was a regular day until Drake announced he would be releasing his video for his runaway bootycall hit "Hotline Bling" on Apple Music. The italicized, arial black words "OCTOBER 19" are repeated in white, against the quintessential baby pink backdrop, just like the album cover for the single. If one could not connect the date to the occasion, then one probably wasn't a dedicated enough fan to care about the video anyway.
The video begins with a scene by a water cooler, panning across the inside of cubicles where girls in light wash easy jeans and baby pink crop tops whisper "Papi" into corded phones. Drake appears, standing alone in a technicolor cube where he dances like the estranged, drunk uncle who crashes weddings. He’s coasting on the last glass of wine he downed and the DJ is trying to pack up, but he refuses to leave the dance floor. The Canadian channels his northern roots when he dons his red down coat and thick grey turtleneck in director Director X’s otherworldly color cube. Each musical crescendo bursts a new neon gradient across the walls.
In typical Drake fashion, similar to what happened with the cover art for albums “Nothing Was the Same” and “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” the video was promptly parodied and turned into a variety of memes referencing “Dragon Ball Z,” Wii Tennis and one where Drake throws pepperoni on a pizza. Hopefully, though, Drake is honored by these homages to his work. They are merely a testament to both his great impact as an artist and how interested others are in the song.
Drake’s video for “Hotline Bling” showcases his reach as both an artist and an icon. Unlike his previous, more traditional videos, “Hotline Bling” pushed his aesthetic boundaries beyond the clubs, streets and heroic crime-fighting scenes of the past. It was the video the people never knew they wanted, but the one that he knew we needed.
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