"A great metaphor for life" — Drake jokes about Theo Skudra accidentally leaking the Nokia music video at the IMAX theater
On March 31, 2025, Drake premiered the music video for his hit song Nokia, shot by director Theo Skudra on IMAX. Nokia is the 14th track from the Canadian rapper's collaborative Valentine's Day album with PartyNextDoor, titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U.
During the screening of the music video at an IMAX theatre, the rapper joked about Skudra accidentally leaking the MV hours before its official release time. For context, Nokia's music video was supposedly released earlier than scheduled, with Drizzy claiming that the director accidentally set the video to public instead of private on YouTube.
"Also a great metaphor for life that you should see everything through because after three days of shooting, two weeks of editing, the biggest budget ever, it only took one person to press public instead of private. Nah, it's okay," the Canadian rapper said during the screening.
The rapper continued that it was "an honor" to watch Theo Skudra's work on an IMAX screen, adding:
"But honestly, it's just an honor that I get to watch Theo's work on a screen like this and, yeah, we've been doing this a long time, and it's only right that we continue to evolve and continue to grow."
Theo Skudra shot the music video for Drake's Family Matters
Theo Skudra and Drake have collaborated multiple times in the past. Skudra directed many of the Canadian rapper's most popular visuals, including Tootsie Slide and Family Matters, the diss track he released at the height of his rap beef with Kendrick Lamar in 2024.
During a May 2020 interview with Complex, Theo Skudra explained how he first started working with Drake. The director revealed that he met the Canadian rapper a decade ago through mutual friends. He was hired as the digital image technician for the Marvin's Room music video shoot, the lead single from the rapper's 2011 album Take Care.
Skudra, who pursued photography as a passion, took pictures of the rapper on set, which Drake asked to see. This marked the starting point of their professional relationship.
“I ended up taking a photo of Drake that I wasn't really supposed to take. The director snapped at me saying, ‘You probably shouldn't be doing that.’ It was actually Drake who sort of turned to him and said, ‘No, don't worry about it. Just send me those photos when you're done’,” Skudra said in the interview.
Nokia featured a cameo from NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The black-and-white music video for the Elkan-produced Nokia follows Drake hosting various parties organized via his chunky flip phone. The video also featured a cameo from NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a fellow Canadian and the guard of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
As of this writing, the music video has garnered over 1.5 million views within 16 hours of its release. Nokia remains in the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, occupying No. 7 this week, sliding up four spots compared to its No. 11 spot last week.
According to Billboard, the rapper first teased the IMAX shot music video for Nokia on his Instagram on March 25, 2025, uploading a teaser of the IMAX sign, with the "A" in "IMAX" replaced with his signature OVO owl.
In other news, Drake is scheduled to headline the three-day Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park, London, between July 11 and 13, 2025. According to Billboard, this year marks the festival's 20th anniversary, with the rapper reportedly set to headline the three shows with a different set list each night.
