CASE STUDY: LILWAVEDADDY × “WAKE UP”
She went viral the week the world shut down.
Artist & Product Development · Publicity · Promotion · Performance
March 2020 · Atlanta to New York
At a glance
8 days from viral video to released single
24 hours to close the distribution deal
6 radio, TV and press stops booked, across 2 cities
3 label and network meetings canceled when New York shut down
Released March 13, 2020, the day the U.S. declared a national emergency
The Moment
On March 5, 2020, Atlanta rapper LilWaveDaddy was twisting 4-year-old Ariyonna’s locs on Instagram Live when Ariyonna caught her reflection and called herself ugly. LilWaveDaddy stopped everything and spoke life into her, and days later Ariyonna was back on camera calling herself Black and beautiful.
The clip spread across the country. Celebrities weighed in, and Michelle Obama reposted it with a message to Ariyonna. Gold Club PR was hired the day it went viral.
The Challenge
Attention like that lasts days, not weeks. If the interviews ran before there was a song to stream, the moment would belong to the internet instead of the artist. And the timing couldn’t have been tighter: festivals were canceling, touring was off the table, and the country was days from closing.
01 · Artist & Product Development
The record had to beat the cameras.
Within 24 hours, a distribution deal was worked out between Have A Reason and Create Music Group. The single, “Wake Up,” was serviced three days before the Tamron Hall taping, so the record was ready before the biggest audience of the run. The cover art, by Gallery Provence, is an illustrated portrait of LilWaveDaddy with the title worked into a pink sleep mask.
02 · Publicity
The last press run before lockdown.
The run opened in Atlanta with Shabria and Ariyonna’s first interview about the clip, on V-103’s Frank Ski Morning Show, followed by Hot 107.9. Then it moved to New York for Tamron Hall, an in-office sit-down at Essence, an NBC Nightly News feature on Ariyonna, and Access Hollywood with Mario Lopez. Every interview was booked by Gold Club PR.
Mid-trip, New York shut down. Three meetings, including Roc Nation and BET, were canceled as the city closed. The press had already aired, and the record was already out.
03 · Promotion
Every interview was a release platform.
The viral moment opened the door, and the job was making sure every booking pointed back to the music. On Tamron Hall, a story about a little girl turned into a pitch for the single, and hometown radio in Atlanta set up the national run.
04 · Performance
The stages closed. The moment didn’t.
No shows. No tour. In the week the country shut down, a viral clip became a record, a distribution deal and a national press run.