How Eternal Atake Took Over the Internet
Deconstructing the success of Lil Uzi Vert's highly anticipated release.
TL;DR: The Eternal Atake Strategy
The Goal: Navigate label disputes to finally release a highly anticipated debut album
The Results: Viral dances, Millions of organic impressions through personal pages, and management backing from Roc Nation
The Pillars: Surprise Your Fans, Have A Direct Channel, Have Your Fans Play the Game
Where were you when Eternal Atake dropped?
It’s a memory every fan of Lil Uzi Vert seems to have with them. With a midday release coming a week early, fans were shocked and ran to their respective streaming apps. But the marketing behind Eternal Atake didn’t start there.
Here is the three-pillar playbook that turned an album release into chaos.
1. The Beauty of the Surprise Drop
In perhaps one of the best release decisions of all time, Uzi’s team chose to release on March 6th, 2020, one week earlier than originally planned. Furthermore, the album was released at 10:15 AM (rather than the typical midnight release).
The Takeaway: It’s an understatement to say this caused a frenzy. With the majority of fans being students, the album being released mid-school day caused havoc, with a mass storm of everyone putting their headphones in and loading up their accounts. Eternal Atake prompted a rush to listen to the album as quickly as possible, on top of unforgettable moments for Uzi fans.
2. Have a Direct Channel to Fans…
In a world where artists scramble for placement on top blogs, playlists, and Instagram pages, Uzi opted to use Twitter (now X) account as the exclusive breaking news network for the album. Throughout the campaign, Uzi remained in complete control over the narrative, including hinting at features or venting label frustrations. No matter what, every update came directly through Twitter.
The Takeaway: By eliminating the middleman, all engagement benefited Uzi’s platform directly. Fans knew that to get the full story, instead of going to the blogs, they had to go to the official page.
3. … And Have Them Play the Game
Once again posted on Twitter, fans were given the option of three different album covers they could pick for Eternal Atake. This led to nearly half a million votes, retweets from every top account, and a ton of debates, having the album at the top of trending days before it released. Fans didn’t simply consume the art, but rather felt responsible for its creation.
The Takeaways (The “So What?”)
Surprise Your Fans: Look for ways to catch your fans off guard, especially if you know your audience well. By releasing in the middle of a school day, Uzi created memories for fans that other artists may never be able to replicate.
Have a Direct Channel: Having content go viral is obviously great, but it’s only valuable if it comes back to you. Everything went through Uzi’s page, making it the one page everyone felt they had to follow.
Have Them Play the Game: After not releasing for years, Uzi fans were beginning to feel frustrated. But by giving them a role in picking an album cover, they were able to take pride in knowing they were co-creators. Look to give your fans a role to play in your project’s development so they feel more invested in the final product.
Every Uzi fan remembers where they were when the album was released. It’s a feeling not many other artists can ever dream of giving their fans.
References
Moorwood, V. (2020). Lil Uzi Vert asks fans to vote for favorite ‘Eternal Atake’ cover art. Revolt. https://www.revolt.tv/article/2020-03-03/80198/lil-uzi-vert-asks-fans-to-vote-for-favorite-eternal-atake-cover-art.
No Labels Necessary. (2020). What you can learn from Uzi’s rollout (Eternal Atake). No Labels Necessary.
Rumor Mill. (2019). Roc Nation lift Lil Uzi Vert with an assist. Hits Daily Double. https://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/rumor-mill/roc-nation-lift-lil-uzi-vert-with-an-assist.