Drake Hotline Bling Reaction Template

2015

Date: 19 October 2015 · Place: YouTube; Director X video shoot, Toronto · Figures: Drake (Aubrey Graham), subject · Director X, music video director · James Turrell, lighting reference · Tags: Template, ImageMacro, Music 01. The Two-Panel Director X releases the music video for Drake's Hotline Bling on 19 October 2015. The lighting cites James Turrell's installations; the dancing cites Drake's own off-rhythm uncle physicality. Two frames go viral: Drake's left hand raised in dismissal, and his right hand pointing at what he prefers instead. By the following week the two frames are paired as a vertical image macro with text labels: top panel rejects something, bottom panel approves of something else. The form becomes one of three universal comparison templates of the era. 02. Syntax Lock The Drake template, Distracted Boyfriend, and Expanding Brain together establish that comparative judgment can be a four-frame piece of grammar with no caption tradition. The image becomes the punctuation; the labels become the sentence. Drake never publicly comments on the template. The video racks two billion views by 2024. Sources • Director X, 'Drake — Hotline Bling', Vevo upload, 19 October 2015 • Doreen St. Felix, The Fader, 'How Hotline Bling Became a Meme', 21 October 2015 • KnowYourMeme entry, 'Drakeposting'