The queen of pop is back, baby! Attention all you single ladies, Beyoncé just casually revealed her new project is dropping next month. To quote our queen on “Green Light”: ‘give it to me, mama’
The news was shared via streaming services on Twitter such as Apple Music and Spotify on Wednesday night. The new project is titled Act I: Renaissance and will drop on July 29. Screenshots of the project’s listing on various streaming platforms have it containing 16 tracks, though there’s no confirmation yet that it is indeed an album.
Beyoncé’s team dropped a link to an official box set for the album’s arrival when the release date dropped. It comes with a collectible Renaissance box, a CD, four-panel softpak, 28-page photo booklet, collectible mini-poster and T-shirt.
Queen Bey has not publicly commented on the announcement on her own socials as of publishing, besides some updates to her respective bios. But she first teased she was working on the album in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last year, and ever-so-subtly dropped in the title.
“With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.
“Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.”
Naturally, fans were frothing over the news.
Beyoncé’s last solo album Lemonade dropped in 2016. She then released EVERYTHING IS LOVE with Jay-Z in 2018 and The Lion King: The Gift in 2019, corresponding with the live-action film of the same name in which she also starred. Her last major piece of work was her visual album Black Is King which dropped on Disney in 2020, accompanying The Lion King: The Gift.