Drake has the kind of appreciation for warm-weather vacations familiar to anyone who grew up in a city with brutal winters. From the pool selfie seen ‘round the world to his Turks and Caicos trip with acolyte Jack Harlow, the superstar rapper really knows how to cut loose once he’s off the clock and in the sun. And cutting loose is exactly what he’s been doing during a sprawling, headline-grabbing excursion across Europe following the release of his seventh studio album, Honestly, Nevermind.
Since arriving in Ibiza, Drake has been on a posting spree, sharing shirtless tanning photos (read: thirst traps), videos of the lavish yacht he and the OVO crew are renting, and…some British kid’s meme rap about Love Island. But those moments pale in comparison to the strange storylines that have exploded on social media. Chances are on July 14 you saw #FreeDrake somewhere on your timeline, which stemmed from a rumor that the musician had been arrested by Swedish police. His team told The Hollywood Reporter that story was false, but that wasn’t the end of the saga.
In a July 17 Instagram dump, Drake shared what appeared to be a letter from Swedish police headlined “Information for Those Suspected of a Crime and Subsequently Detained,” which apparently confirmed that he had contact with law enforcement. The rumors of a police run-in sparked concern online, since ASAP Rocky was imprisoned for a month in Stocklholm in 2019. (Drake’s Instagram post also included photos of his friends in a club and what appeared to be a fancy cocktail in a cage, so it’s clear he wasn’t terribly pressed about the whole thing.)
With the Sweden situation in the rearview, Drake moved on to Southern France’s Saint-Tropez, spending time with 21-year-old influencer Suede Brooks on what Page Six deemed a “yacht hopping” excursion. It’s unclear whether there’s a romantic spark there, but, according to Entertainment Tonight, the two have actually known each other for some time, and have mutual friends.
Unfortunately, Drake’s idyllic coastal getaway was interrupted by one pesky, persistent bee. That gave us this hilarious clip of the rapper avoiding stings like he was doing Fat Joe’s “Lean Back” dance with a side of Milly Rock, while his friends frantically tried to shoo the insect away. “I hate bees on god,” he later wrote on Instagram, proving once and for all that Drake will never make it as a new cast member on Jackass.
He’s also been out partying with some of his Honestly, Nevermind collaborators, seemingly partying at the same types of places that he made this dance music for. He was spotted at one party with the album’s executive producer, Black Coffee, and most recently with members of the Keinemusik collective, whose members &ME and Rampa co-produced “Falling Back” and “A Keeper.”
And just in case you were worried that Drake wasn’t traveling in style, fret not. Per Page Six, the “Coral Ocean” yacht he and his pals are using costs $660,000 a week. And for further travel he’s also been using his [shudders] signature plane, the baby blue Air Drake, a private Boeing 767. (According to BitLux Travel, the plane is an “ongoing gift from the Canadian cargo carrier, Cargojet,” and the air services company confirmed that it “has had a lengthy relationship with Drake, transporting supplies and equipment for his tours in the past.”)
But it wouldn’t be a Drake trip without him trying to woo a woman in the strangest way possible. On July 21, Drake shared a photo on his Instagram story of a woman unaware she was being snapped. “Tried to airdrop this woman a pic of herself cause she’s a dime,” he wrote. It’s knowingly goofy, which is his vacation-gram style: They have been peppered with self-aware memes like this one that reads, “[Wow] my ex just posted on her story with her husband and three children and she had on a red shirt. Like [you] know I told [you] my fav color was red 10 years ago. Get over me already [you] big goofy.”
Given that Drake is already on his second lavish trip of 2022, it’s unlikely we’ve seen the last of Vacation Drake. God have mercy on us all.