Congratulations Beyoncé, queen of the viral moment

When Beyoncé says jump, the only appropriate answer is: how high, queen? For evidence, look no further than the way his album deployment revolutionized. On Friday, December 13, 2013, Beyoncé dropped the pioneer of the surprise album when she unannounced her self-titled fifth album. The internet has exploded properly, with the ensuing delirium caused by fans nicknamed “Beyoncé Syndrome” by the BBC. Such was her impact that record companies later accepted Friday releases as the industry standard. (In the US, albums have been released on a Tuesday since the 1980s).

Beyoncé repeated the surprise fall in 2016 with her visual album, Lemonade. The gimmick was copied by artists from Kanye West to Kendrick Lamar, who also uploaded albums with none of the usual promotion or fanfare expected of a great artist. But just as the music industry reconfigured itself by her example, Bey had another surprise in store. Last week – on the same day that Drake surprised his seventh album, Honestly, Nevermind – Beyoncé announced her seventh album, Renaissance, in the traditional way with a release date set for July 29 (a Tuesday). The moral of the story? Beyoncé can do what she damn wants.

Loose breadcrumbs

In the run-up to the announcement, Beyoncé hinted that a new era was coming. She deleted the profile photos from all her social media accounts, which led some fans to speculate that she could not possibly telegraph the arrival of new music (after all, she spent almost a decade releasing records without warning, while she certainly did less teased, err, exciting projects, such as active clothing lines and vegan meal services).

However, once placeholder art appeared on her website, with the caption “Image, B7” – the nickname fans used to refer to her seventh album – it unmistakably seemed like new music was on the horizon. Rumors gained momentum on June 15 when her charity, BeyGOOD, marked Black Music Month by posting a collage of albums by black musicians. It includes an unknown image of a red glove hand pointing to a photo from R&B singer Brandy’s 2020 album. Is this title? B7. A day later, the news was confirmed when Beyoncé shared the words “act i … RENAISSANCE” on her social media accounts, and streaming platforms gave fans the chance to save the release in advance. As a viral campaign, it spread faster than gonorrhea at Freshers’ Week, creating the kind of hysteria we haven’t seen since … the last time Beyoncé released new music.

The silent treatment

Once she had our attention, Beyoncé did not intend to let it go astray. Following the announcement, she unveiled a lavish photo shoot for British Vogue. Shots of her riding a horse and having a mirror ball are reminiscent of the decadence of Studio 54, which led to speculation that the album would include disco elements. In the accompanying profile by Edward Enninful, however, Beyoncé typically remained laconic, uttering only nine words throughout. Of course there are revealing sentences that contain even fewer words (“You are not my muvva” / “Yes I aaaaam”) but … that was not it. The relevant nine-word sentence? “My earth, my heart, my soil and my common sense” (referring to her inner circle). Yes, that’s the only quote she gives.

Beyoncé’s silence away from the stage helped cement her legend. Since 2014, she has refused to complete face-to-face interviews, rather than answering questions by email or on pre-recorded segments for TV. It helped elevate her above her pop mates, and shows that she does not have to play by the usual rules of celebrity to win the contest. In her 2014 documentary, Beyonce: Life is but a Dream, she compared her approach to Nina Simone. “When Nina Simone put out music, you loved her voice. That’s what she wanted you to love, ”she said. “You were not brainwashed by her daily life. This is not your business. It should not affect the way you listen to the voice and the art, but it does. ”

By limiting information about herself, Beyoncé increased the demand. The resulting thirst for detail is what leads fans to refresh her social channels for any shadow of news and react with madness when she changes as much as her Instagram bio. Instead of allowing endless interviews and documenting every moment on social media, Beyoncé perfected the art of promoting her music on her own terms. In the attention economy he is king.

Stick it to the man?

Beyoncé released the main single, and sixth track, from her new album by “6. BREAK MY SOUL midnight ET ”to her bios – but was forced to drop the track two hours early after leaks circulated online. Break My Soul is a mid-tempo house track that exemplifies the nineties club classic Show Me Love by Robin S, and features guest chorus from New Orleans bounce legend Big Freedia.

“Bey is back, and I’m sleeping very well at night,” Beyoncé announces, a phrase that seems exactly designed to join “Becky with the good hair” and “I woke up so” in the litany of endlessly quotable (and singable) Beyoncé lyrics. Over a jumping piano line she sings: “I just quit my job / I’m going to get new drive / Damn they work me so damn hard / work at nine / then over five.”

“Beyoncé to sing about the pressure of a nine to five is camp,” one Twitter user declared while another joked, “Beyoncé tells us to resign our job knowing we have to make money for her tour, she’s so funny. ” Author R Eric Thomas wrote on his blog: “You know things are rough when even Beyoncé is like ‘this job stresses me out!’ Madam, your job is Being Beyoncé! ”

Beyoncé’s apparent pivotal point to becoming a pro-union member has provoked a series of thoughts. Can a multi-millionaire whose Ivy Park clothing line is manufactured in sweat shops really be an anti-capitalist? On the other hand, can an artist not reflect the “great resignation” spirit of the times, without being personally responsible for leading a revolution? These are questions that Dolly Parton seemed undisturbed about when she released 9 to 5, but those were probably simpler times …

For her next trick …

With the single released in their greedy ears, what can Renaissance fans expect? Super-sleuths deduced from the album’s Apple Music page that it’s 16 tracks. Songs one to four, seven, nine and 11 to 16 are all listed as explicit, implying that Beyoncé is either extremely angry, extremely horny, or both. The Apple music page lists the album under its ‘pop’ category, but “a source familiar with the project” told Variety that it would include both dance and country-leaning tracks. According to those who are on the verge of having their inner circle privileges revoked, Bey has collaborated with Ryan Tedder (who co-wrote her 2008 single Halo), Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Andra Day (who Beyoncé sister Solange’s 2016 album A Seat produced. at the table).

Unbeknownst to us, Beyoncé teased the album’s title in an email to Harper’s Bazaar last August, saying: “With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we’re all ready to escape “To travel, to love and to laugh again. I feel a renaissance, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.” All this means that we have very little idea what the album is going to sound like, and we get the impression that this is exactly how Beyoncé likes it.