Beyoncé and Jay-Z release surprise joint album
Superstar couple released new tracks on streaming service Tidal with little warning and fans are overjoyed
Mr. and Mrs. Carter — music's royal couple better known as Beyoncé and Jay-Z — have released a joint album called Everything Is Love.
The album came as a surprise to many fans on Saturday, with Beyoncé posting a tweet online after the songs became available on the streaming service Tidal, which is owned by the couple.
Stream <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EverythingIsLove?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EverythingIsLove</a> now, exclusively on TIDAL. Also stream a TIDAL-exclusive track. <a href="https://t.co/OHRZ7lnF8n">https://t.co/OHRZ7lnF8n</a> <a href="https://t.co/70xd4Box4P">pic.twitter.com/70xd4Box4P</a>
—@BeyonceWithin half an hour, Beyoncé's 15 million followers had retweeted or "liked" the announcement more than 20,000 times.
Beyoncé has proven she needs no early publicity or hype before releasing new music worldwide. Her 2016 album and film Lemonade also dropped with only a small amount of promotion. It revealed deeply personal tales of infidelity, anger and forgiveness involving her marriage and won two Grammy Awards.
Jay'Z's 4:44, which also delved into his personal life, came out in 2017. The album was nominated for eight Grammys but didn't win one at this year's ceremony, which sparked debate about how the awards fail to embrace rap artists the way mainstream audiences have.
In one of their new tracks, called Ape S*t, Jay-Z calls out the Grammys over the controversy using explicit lyrics.
A music video for the song also dropped on YouTube at the same time on Saturday. It was shot inside Paris's Louvre Museum. Photos from the couple's private visit to the famed museum in 2014 are posted on Beyoncé's website. Many locations in the video resemble those in the photos.
The pair is currently on the road for their On The Run II tour and performed in London, England Saturday.
Warning: music video contains explicit language