Beyonce Surprise Released Her New Album Last Night On The DL

[milven]

Beyonce's game change: a surprise album release
Beyonce pulled off one of the best-kept secrets in recent music history -- she had a new album, and it was already available for purchase.



By Gerrick D. Kennedy
December 13, 2013, 3:07 a.m.

Without as much as a hint, Beyonce stealthily released her new album.

As the West Coast was tucking into bed Thursday night, the singer rolled out one of the best-kept secrets in recent music history: the album she’s spent the past year teasing was now available for purchase on iTunes.

The self-titled set comes as a “visual album” featuring 14 new tracks and 17 music videos.

It's currently available as an iTunes exclusive. Manufacturing of physical albums begins Thursday and a double disc CD/DVD will be available before the holidays, according to her label.

Working with Jay Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Drake, the Dream, Sia, Ryan Tedder, Miguel, Frank Ocean and Hit Boy, the singer churned out her most ambitious project to date, without ever actually saying she was putting out an album any time soon.

"I didn't want to release my music the way I've done it. I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There's so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans," Beyonce said in the album's announcement on Thursday.

"I felt like I didn't want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out," she added. "I just want this to come out when it's ready and from me to my fans."

The question of when Beyonce would release her follow-up to 2011's "4," and her first record since birthing her first child in 2012, has rattled fans for the better part of the year.

For her part, Beyonce dangled plenty of carrots that new music would be arriving, at some point.

She toplined the Super Bowl halftime show in Feburary, sang for the president and launched a sold out world tour, which she’s still on, and little bits of music were parceled out to fans.

She previewed one track, “Grown Woman” in a Pepsi ad, before debuting it on her Mrs. Carter World Tour, while another single, “Standing on the Sun,” was the backdrop for an H&M campaign. The video for "Grown Woman" appears as a bonus cut on the video portion of the album [[it's excluded on the audio side).

But with each tease, the singer never revealed as much as an album title, release date or lead single. Collaborators would drop what little hints they could, but she continued to remain mum.

Beyonce's sneak attack is the result of more than a year and a half of work.

Recording began when the singer and her camp of writers and producers lived together in the Hamptons last summer. And the videos were lensed in places like Houston, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and Paris as she toured.

More impressive than Beyonce keeping the project under wraps -- only pictures from unconfirmed video shoots and a piece of footage from “Grown Woman” managed to leak -- is what she managed to pull off.

The album is a striking collection of work that shows her torching the veil of her carefully crafted image.

It's difficult to digest all she's weaved together in just one sitting. And she wants listeners to experience it as a complete body of work [[the album's individual tracks won't go on sale until Dec. 20).

After chewing on 14 tracks produced by a dreamteam of beatmakers including like Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Ryan Tedder, Noah "40" Shebib and Hit Boy, a set of 17 music videos begin unfolding as provocative companion pieces. Terry Richardson, Jake Nava, Hype Willams and Beyonce herself helped direct the visuals.

Songs on the album jump and dive between genres and are woven together with everything from spoken word and trap raps to the coos of her daughter Blue Ivy and vintage Destiny’s Child footage. It's a lot to consume, but a revelatory look at the singer who has tirelessly calculated what she chooses to share [[and it's not always much).

Beyonce vamps as the trophy wife to her lust filled husband, Jay Z, in the video to “Drunk In Love,” does a steamy striptease for him in another clip, and references Monica Lewinsky when singing of a backseat tryst with him in another.

She shares her insecurities and anger on “Jealously,” revels in her daughter’s glow on “Blue,” commands her sexuality on "Blow," fights for her marriage on "Mine" and dials up her knack for feminist anthems with "***Flawless," which is built around the first half of "Bow Down/I Been On," a song she dropped in similar surprise fashion earlier this year.

The news of the album jolted the internet and spread hotly across Twitter and Instagram as listeners quickly dropped $15.99 on the album no one saw coming, with chatter and OMG-ing fueling Twitter throughout the night.

She clearly took a clue from Jay Z and collaborator Timberlake, who both sneakily released details on albums -- Jay only giving fans a few days' notice in announcing an unprecedented plan of releasing his "Magna Carta Holy Grail" album for free, via smartphones.

Beyonce completely bypassed the announcement of details and opted to go straight for artist-to-fan consumption, releasing the project on her own terms.

The move is stunning, and virtually unheard of, especially considering how the hype machine -- singles, performances, interviews etc. -- that propels pop music up the charts is often treated as equally, if not more important than the work itself.

With her latest work, Beyonce proved she wanted the work to speak for itself -- a luxury rarely afforded to an act of her caliber.

She not only changed the game with the move -- she claimed it.




http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...#ixzz2nMcSUC31

[RossHolloway]

something still doesn't smell right about this..

[antceleb12]

I listened to the 1:30 previews on iTunes and am not impressed at all. Seems way too inconsistent and lacks musicality. Just sounds like another pop-R&B album. Doesn't work for me. I'm also not a fan of the buy it all or nothing at all approach.

[soulster]

Musical content being a whole 'nother issue, I like that she surprised us with it. This way, the critics and media have no influence on public opinion before its even released. The album gets a fair chance in the marketplace.

This is the way it used to be before the 80s, when artists could drop a new album without fanfare and get a fair chance.

[soulster]

Doesn't work for me. I'm also not a fan of the buy it all or nothing at all approach.

According to the MSNBC story that just aired, the album has sold 80,000+ copies in its first three hours.

Apparently, Beyonce wants the fans to enjoy the entire album without people picking out singles.

There will be a physical copy available soon.

[skooldem1]

I'm also not a fan of the buy it all or nothing at all approach.

Prior to the digital download era, didn't you have to buy an album in order to hear what was on it?

[antceleb12]

According to the MSNBC story that just aired, the album has sold 80,000+ copies in its first three hours.

Apparently, Beyonce wants the fans to enjoy the entire album without people picking out singles.

There will be a physical copy available soon.

Yeah, I read that, too. If it works for other people, that's fine. But if it's an album where I only like a couple of the songs, I'd rather just be able to purchase the ones I like.

[antceleb12]

Prior to the digital download era, didn't you have to buy an album in order to hear what was on it?

Haha, true. I guess I'm just spoiled by the digital age of iTunes where if you don't want to buy the whole album you don't have to. Of course, I'm sure that hurts album sales.

[milven]

Prior to the digital download era, didn't you have to buy an album in order to hear what was on it?

Not until the record industry eliminated 45's, then cassette singles, and CD singles. After that. if a young music buyer walked into a record store [[remember them?) and wanted three songs that he heard on the radio, he had to buy three albums.

Then came Napster and the rest is history.

[soulster]

Yeah, I read that, too. If it works for other people, that's fine. But if it's an album where I only like a couple of the songs, I'd rather just be able to purchase the ones I like.

I understand, and I agree. But, unless you are over 30, you may not remember the days when you had to buy a whole album to hear its contents, unless you had a friend who had a copy. Popularity of songs played on the radio would be about the only way a record company could be forced to issue singles.

In a lot of ways, the age of the internet ruined things.

[antceleb12]

I understand, and I agree. But, unless you are over 30, you may not remember the days when you had to buy a whole album to hear its contents, unless you had a friend who had a copy. Popularity of songs played on the radio would be about the only way a record company could be forced to issue singles.

In a lot of ways, the age of the internet ruined things.

Oh yeah, I know. I'm not over thirty, but I remember the days before digital music. I guess I'm spoiled by internet convenience.

[soulster]

Haha, true. I guess I'm just spoiled by the digital age of iTunes where if you don't want to buy the whole album you don't have to. Of course, I'm sure that hurts album sales.

The industry has itself to blame. They deliberately killed off the single in the early 90s. First they did away with the 45s, then the cassette single, then they played games with the CD single, and putting alternate mixes out on those remaining singles as limited or rare editions. On top of that, they tried to make the consumer buy a whole CD by changing up mixes of the hit songs people wanted. Napster had to happen! When the mp3 was invented, it was inevitable things were going to change.

The industry could have capitalized on the new digital format, but they ignored it because all they had were visions of multi-platinum album sales in their eyes. And, they put one or two good songs on an album to force people to buy it at full retail prices, and then padded the rest with essentially filler. Not that that was a new practice, but when the CD came along, it went on steroids. Well, the splintering of musical genres and tastes killed that along with the illegal downloading. A whole generation or two got used to the idea of cherry-picking songs.

Nowadays, an album is considered successful if it sells 75,000 units. Pitiful! And, worse, now people don't have to buy anything! They just stream it from Spotify or YouTube, and worse, copy it from YouTube and wind up with awful sound quality. And, they still don't pay for it! I like occasionally finding rare singles on YouTube and copying them, but it's to the point where I wish the labels would crack down on it harder than they are. We have GOT to figure out a way to make people BUY music again, and I don't mean reincorporating DRM or suing people.

Sorry for my rant.

[antceleb12]

The industry has itself to blame. They deliberately killed off the single in the early 90s. First they did away with the 45s, then the cassette single, then they played games with the CD single, and putting alternate mixes out on those remaining singles as limited or rare editions. On top of that, they tried to make the consumer buy a whole CD by changing up mixes of the ringers [[hit songs). Napster had to happen! When the mp3 was inverted, it was inevitable.

The industry could have capitalized on it, but they ignored it because all they could see were multi-platinum album sales. Then, they put one or two good songs on an album and padded the rest with essentially filler. Not that that was a new practice, but when the CD came along, it went on steroids. Well, the splintering of musical genres and tastes killed that along with the illegal downloading. A whole generation or two got used to the idea of cherry-picking songs. Nowadays, an album is considered successful if it sells 75,000 units. Pitiful! And, worse, now people don't have to buy anything! They just stream it from Spotify or YouTube, and worse, copy it from YouTube and wind up with awful sound quality. And, they still don't pay for it! I like occasionally finding rare singles on YouTube and copying them, but it's to the point where I with the labels would crack down on it harder than they are. We have GOT to figure out a way to make people BUY music again, and I don't mean DRM or suing people.

Sorry for my rant.

Yup! MP3 is far inferior sound quality, anyway. WAV is one of the better qualities, but that's another thing...It was all about the single back then, and those singles would be used to promote the album, and albums would be considered more of an 'expense,' I suppose? Regardless, iTunes has killed the need for full album purchases. That's what's so funny about young people buying vinyl today. It's funny. I was talking with a friend of mine who just bought his first LP, and said "I can't get used to this because I can't just skip tracks." And it's so true. I guess we [["we" as in the digital generation) don't listen to albums as a thorough piece of work anymore.

[smark21]

Well unlike acts like Lady Gaga, in which it was reported that her record company budget $25 million to promote her album, only to see sales fall drastically after the first week when all her fans bought copies of ArtPop, very little money was obviously spent for advance promotion on this album. However, I have read an article that suggested one reason why the album got the sneak release is because so much money was spent on the videos and Beyoncé recorded hundreds of songs in which only 14 made the album that there was no budget left to promote so they went this route. Interesting theory. But going this route was a crafty decision and Beyoncé has received a lot of attention by going this route.

[antceleb12]

Well unlike acts like Lady Gaga, in which it was reported that her record company budget $25 million to promote her album, only to see sales fall drastically after the first week when all her fans bought copies of ArtPop, very little money was obviously spent for advance promotion on this album. However, I have read an article that suggested one reason why the album got the sneak release is because so much money was spent on the videos and Beyoncé recorded hundreds of songs in which only 14 made the album that there was no budget left to promote so they went this route. Interesting theory. But going this route was a crafty decision and Beyoncé has received a lot of attention by going this route.

I do find it interesting that Beyonce and/or whoever was in charge of relations with iTunes chose to monopolize the entire iTunes store marquee display. It is no surprise, though, that her album is already at the top of the iTunes charts. The marketing strategy is well-executed.

[soulster]

Not until the record industry eliminated 45's, then cassette singles, and CD singles. After that. if a young music buyer walked into a record store [[remember them?) and wanted three songs that he heard on the radio, he had to buy three albums.

Then came Napster and the rest is history.

There is a wonderful book called "Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age". Check it out. It tells of all the things the industry did to destroy itself, and why we are in the mess we are in now.


BTW, I sampled the album. Me no like. Boring R&B. The only song I do like is "Blow".

[soulster]

Yup! MP3 is far inferior sound quality, anyway. WAV is one of the better qualities, but that's another thing...It was all about the single back then, and those singles would be used to promote the album, and albums would be considered more of an 'expense,' I suppose? Regardless, iTunes has killed the need for full album purchases. That's what's so funny about young people buying vinyl today. It's funny. I was talking with a friend of mine who just bought his first LP, and said "I can't get used to this because I can't just skip tracks." And it's so true. I guess we [["we" as in the digital generation) don't listen to albums as a thorough piece of work anymore.

But, cherry-picking favorite tracks are part of why the industry is having problems. They got used to selling entire albums. IT wouldn't be so bad if the music was consistent throughout, but too often, it's not. I'm not sure what it is. I can tell you what caused me to buy the recent albums I have: the songs were diverse, and the production was interesting. With that new Beyonce album, it's the same vibe all through. I call it "mood" music. That's not what I look for. I want a buffet of sound on an album. I want it to change up every few minutes. I also want to hear a human element, meaning I don't want to hear a bunch of computer programming. But, if it is, I want it to keep my interest.

LPs? What's stopping your friend from moving the needle over to the next track like we did in the old days?

And, I seem to remember that artists released albums without singles way back in the 60s and 70s: The Beatles' White Album, Led Zeppelin 4, not even Prince's "Lovesexy" was supposed to have had any singles culled from it, originally.

[soulster]

Well unlike acts like Lady Gaga, in which it was reported that her record company budget $25 million to promote her album, only to see sales fall drastically after the first week when all her fans bought copies of ArtPop, very little money was obviously spent for advance promotion on this album. However, I have read an article that suggested one reason why the album got the sneak release is because so much money was spent on the videos and Beyoncé recorded hundreds of songs in which only 14 made the album that there was no budget left to promote so they went this route. Interesting theory. But going this route was a crafty decision and Beyoncé has received a lot of attention by going this route.

Beyonce says she wanted the fans to experience the entire album. Notice that on iTunes, you cannot buy individual songs. You must buy the whole enchilada.

That may or may not be true about the budget. But, whatever it was, it worked!

[Soul Sister]

Me thinks she's a very smart lady.

,
S.S.
***

[antceleb12]

LPs? What's stopping your friend from moving the needle over to the next track like we did in the old days?

It was his first time using a record player, so he wasn't familiar with the process. I explained how to do it. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting.

[soulster]

It was his first time using a record player, so he wasn't familiar with the process. I explained how to do it. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that we now deal with a whole generation or two that have no experience with a turntable, let alone a tape deck of any kind.

[soulster]

Looks like her plan for no pre-release promotion was deliberate:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5839719/how-beyonce-stayed-a-secret-and-which-songs-will-be-the-first-singles

[milven]

It was his first time using a record player, so he wasn't familiar with the process. I explained how to do it. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting.

I think kids are already looking at CD's as something not familiar to them. They only know downloads. And the demise of the CD is happening quicker than we think. I recently bought a new car and was surprised to see that it had the CD player buried on the passenger side and in the glove box as if the designers of the car knew that the player would seldom, if ever, be used. [[They are right. I listen to my music through i-phone or mp3 while in the car)

And record shops now exist only as museums. There was another release today that was exclusive to the I-tunes store.

ITunes Exclusively Debuted “Rejoice with Me” by Bobby Jones & Faith Evans TODAY!!
“Rejoice With Me” CD is scheduled to hit stores March 25, 2014 .

Lot's of luck finding a record store

[marv2]

Here is her latest video. It's been up for one day and already has 2.5 million views!

[milven]

Looks like it is going to debut at number one on next week's chart without the help of retail or even CD's , just i-Tunes downloads. Tha's quite a lot of power for one distributor.
I always said that one day there will be one giant record retailer, one giant record company and one giant distributor. We're close to that happening.

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