Well, this kind of turns the whole ‘Friday The 13th’ thing on its head, huh? Last night, without fanfare or promotion, Beyonce released her fifth full studio album via iTunes. To call it an album is a bit of an understatement. The self-titled project consists of 14 songs released complete with 17 accompanying videos, for something that the First Lady of hip-hop and R&B referred to as a “visual experience.”
In a press release, Beyonce described the idea for the new album. “I see music,” said Beyoncé. “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.”
The album is a family affair of sorts, with husband Jay-Z and infant child Blue Ivy making appearances on two tracks. I haven’t had a chance to hear “Blue” yet, but I’m sure it’s meant to melt many a young girl’s heart, queue the “awwws”. As she is apt to do, Beyonce handpicked the rest of the features, adding to of the top artists in music today to a project that was already sure to be groundbreaking. Drake stops by for “Mine” and Frank Ocean hops on “Superpower”, which should be a treat. Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, The-Dream and Noah “40? Shebib handle the bulk of production duties. Taking a page out of the rest of the music world, Beyonce released the album, complete with videos with simply a posting on her Facebook wall. You can check out some of the videos below and pick up the full album on iTunes.
Album tracklist:
01 Pretty Hurts
02 Haunted
03 Drunk in Love (feat. Jay Z)
04 Blow
05 No Angel
06 Partition
07 Jealous
08 Rocket
09 Mine (feat. Drake)
10 XO
11 ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche)
12 Superpower (feat. Frank Ocean)
13 Heaven
14 Blue (feat. Blue Ivy)
Video tracklist:
01 Pretty Hurts
02 Ghost
03 Haunted
04 Drunk in Love (feat. Jay Z)
05 Blow
06 No Angel
07 Yoncé
08 Partition
09 Jealous
10 Rocket
11 Mine (feat. Drake)
12 XO
13 ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche)
14 Superpower (feat. Frank Ocean)
15 Heaven
16 Blue (feat. Blue Ivy)
17 Grown Woman
18 Credits
Watch a Mini Documetary that Explains Beyoncé’s Visual Album
[iframe id=”facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10153655829445601″ mode=”normal” align=”center”]