Drake is hinting at a “next chapter,” but what that entails is still anyone’s guess after his cryptic Instagram post.
On Monday, the rapper shared, “U know I grew up non confrontational and always treated this game as a sport where my pen won gold, but my these days the podium has been hard for all of us to ignore.”
This comes just under two weeks after Drake abruptly called off his Australian and New Zealand tour and headed back home without any clear explanation. Fans are still in the dark about why he cut the tour short.
In his Instagram post, Drake added, “I understand that this next chapter may leave you feeling uneasy, but I hope you see my honesty as clarity not charity that answers some questions especially about the unanswered texts you’ve been sending me.”
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The cryptic message was paired with a carousel of photos, including some at various locations, a sweatshirt with his OVO Sound label’s owl logo and the slogan “Free the Man Dem,” and a shot of a Zofran pill, used to treat nausea from chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation.
It’s not the first time Drake’s hinted at a new direction. He’s already kicked off his post-Lamar-feud era with a chart-topping album: $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his collaborative project with fellow Canadian PartyNextDoor, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in late February. That album marked his 14th No. 1.
So what’s next? Could it be a solo album? Drake hinted at one while on tour in Australia earlier this year, saying, “And you know, eventually when the time is right, Drizzy Drake alone by himself is gonna have to have a one-on-one talk to y’all. When the time is right, I’ll be back with another album, a one-on-one conversation with y’all that you need to hear.”
Drake’s ‘Anita Max Win Tour’ had been scheduled to include four more stops: two in New Zealand, and one each in Brisbane and Sydney. But after performing in Brisbane on February 26th, it was speculated that he made a swift exit, heading to the airport just hours later.
The next day, a rep for the Grammy-winning artist told Rolling Stone AU/NZ that “scheduling conflicts” were behind the sudden cancellation of the remaining dates and that they’d be rescheduled.
Shortly after, Loren Lorosa appeared on The Breakfast Club to offer some insight: “They just had a routing mess up towards the end of the tour. So basically, they had Drake doing four shows in 16 days. So essentially, if he had done that then he would’ve been sitting around in Australia doing nothing for 12 days and that’s a huge waste of money and time because you have to pay for his dancers, production, his lighting crew. There’s a lot of overhead for the tour.”
Drake’s rep confirmed for Rolling Stone AU/NZ: “All tickets for the affected shows will remain valid for the new dates. Refunds will be available for those who prefer, but please note that as these shows are sold out, any refunded tickets will be released for sale.”
