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As Thursday turned into Friday, no one knew that Beyoncé was preparing to bring the music world to its knees by releasing her fifth album exclusively to iTunes without warning or fanfare. Leave it to Queen Bey to drop one of the biggest musical surprises of 2013!
The self-titled album contains 14 tracks, each with its own accompanying video, as well as three bonus videos. There were no songs leaked across the internet. There wasn’t even the spectacle of a release party. In true royal fashion, the superstar did it with absolutely no pre-promotion.
A short time after the album became available, and giving fans time to compose themselves, Beyoncé released a video on her Facebook page explaining her reasoning for doing what she did.
“I see music. 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.”
Speaking about why each song has its own music video, Beyoncé said, “I think it’s one of the reasons I wanted to do a visual album. I wanted people to hear the songs with the story that’s in my head, because that’s what makes it mine. That vision in my brain is what I wanted people to experience the first time.”
Reflecting on the differences between the way music is handled and appreciated in today’s society, compared to the way she remembers sitting around watching the “event” that was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. “It’s all about the single and the hype. There is so much that gets between the music and the artist and the fans. I felt like I don’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.”
Further explaining the choices made to drop the album with zero marketing, a press release was distributed at the time of the album’s appearance in which she said, “For an artist who has been the target of leaks, this is a fully designed preventative plan. The album will be offered as a cohesive body of work with every song and every video available all at once for one single purchase.”
The album boasts collaborations with her husband Jay Z, Drake, Frank Ocean and a special cameo by daughter Blue Ivy on the final track titled, “Blue.”
The track list is as follows:
1. Pretty Hurts
2. Haunted
3. Drunk in Love (feat. Jay Z)
4. Blow
5. No Angel
6. Partition
7. Jealous
8. Rocket
9. Mine (feat. Drake)
10. XO
11. ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche)
12. Superpower (feat. Frank Ocean)
13. Heaven
14. Blue (feat. Blue Ivy)
Beyoncé is available now on iTunes.
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