Over the weekend, Michael Cera essentially pulled off "a Beyonce," releasing a surprise full-length album without any buildup or promotion. And the secret was still well-kept until several days later, so in a sense, he pulled it off even better.
All joking aside, the Cera album is very real, even if it's not aided by a record label or any real promotion. Instead, Cera's 18-song collection of lo-fi, homemade ditties (complete with singer-songwriter narratives and instrumental interludes) exists in the realm of Bandcamp, where countless other artists who actually are no-name up-and-comers get their start. You can pay $7 to own the album yourself (in MP3, FLAC, and more formats!) or just stream it at your leisure.