S. Samuel
R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter may have taken a page out of Jay Z's marketing book by shocking the world with the release of a new album.
According to reports, Bey’s new self-titled release features nearly 15 records and is an iTunes-exclusive.
Christmas comes early for Beyoncé fans. In an unprecedented move, the pop superstar quietly released her fifth studio album to iTunes on Friday. “Surprise!” tweeted Bey moments after the midnight launch. The visual album, simply titled BEYONCÉ, features 14 songs and 17 videos, with contributions from Jay Z, Blue Ivy, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, Drake, The-Dream, Sia, Ryan Tedder, Miguel, Frank Ocean, Hit-Boy, Ammo, Boots, and Detail. “I see music,” said Beyoncé about her decision to create a visual album. “It’s more than just what I hear. When I’m connected to something, I immediately see a visual or a series of images that are tied to a feeling or an emotion, a memory from my childhood, thoughts about life, my dreams or my fantasies. And they’re all connected to the music.” (Rap-Up)
Bey also explained why she went with an unexpected album release.
The videos were shot throughout the world in New York, Paris, Sydney, and Rio de Janeiro during her worldwide “Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.” “I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it,” explained Bey. “I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.” The surprise release was a strategic move done to prevent leaks. Manufacturing of physical copies begins today and the double disc CD/DVD will be available in stores in time for the holidays. (Rap-Up)
Recent reports suggested Queen B’s new LP would come out next year.
The saga of Beyoncé’s forthcoming fifth album packed the entire cycle of Detox into one year–or at least it felt like that at times. We saw soda and department store commercials featuring snippets of new songs, loops of those snippets touted on Tumblr as full versions of those tracks, videos of those songs being performed live and even, most recently, a bit of the purported video of “Grown Woman.” But in 2014, finally, we should be getting the real thing. That’s according to Rob Stringer, the chairman of Columbia. In an interview with Hits Daily Double, Stringer said of a new B album that “obviously, at some point Beyoncé will put a record out, and when she does it will be monumental.” And if no album ends up materializing, we now have another person to blame for getting our hopes up. (Complex)
Back in June, Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy talked about Jay Z teaming with Samsung for the seemingly overnight release of Magna Carta Holy Grail.
“While I was out here I called Jay and me and him been talking back and forth about the network and about his deal and how proud we were of each other. We’re actually changing together the business model of the music industry. As far as our power, you can see the power that we have, not me and Jay-Z, the power that we have as a culture that Samsung now is going to give Apple a run for its money. People actually believe and we believe in our leaders in hip-hop. What they say is cool and what they say is next and we recognized that what Samsung is doing is moving forward. We were like “Hey man, we may need to give this Galaxy joint a chance” and that’s a lot of power, man.” (VIBE)
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