Let's face it, non of us saw it coming. Two days earlier I was moaning as Beyoncé announced more dates to the ever-growing Mrs Carter tour, returning to the UK in 2014. She might be the perfect show girl but like many others, it was new music I was pining for.
It felt like Christmas came early on Friday morning as I checked my Facebook to discover a post from Popjustice reviewing a Beyoncé album, at first I thought I had mis-read, was this an old post? A live album? Maybe another best of? No, it was fourteen new songs, Mrs Carter has gone and dropped the biggest surprise of 2013, how did this even happen, it has been written and recorded whilst she toured the world, with a list of collaborators any artist anyone would dream of working with, how did this stay so secretive? We knew she had been working on a new record, that her record label weren't too keen on but uploading this on to iTunes with no promotion or release date or anything might be the smartest move of the year.
Earlier in the year Bowie did similar but rumours were constant whilst her fella Jay, also Kanye released albums with little build up time, this seems to be the new way, not just that, promo campaigns cost $$$!
Lady GaGa hyped ARTPOP up for months, expectations were huge and it failed to live up to it where as Beyoncé caught us off guard, there was no reviews, no preconceptions, everybody who wanted to could hear the album instantly on iTunes without hearing the critics opinions and that tactic has worked wonders. iTunes crashed as it couldn't cope with demand (over 800,000 sales in just three days!) and it topped charts despite it only being able to purchase for just a few days, digitally without any notice, the physical copies only began to hit production once it was already available online to keep the possibility of it leaking minimal.
Maybe it is a rush release? The label wasn't keen on the biggest pop star in the world releasing an album without any obvious singles on it but when you are as big as Beyonce you can afford to do it your way and you have to applaud her for taking this risk.
Not only did Friday morning bring fourteen brand new songs but seventeen videos to give it a visual and unique twist, allowing the singer to express herself with different formats, some of these mini movies were filmed in public places and it was still kept under wraps. So does the music live up to the surprise or will this album always be known as the one that saw a new way to market music? Well, it is a huge departure from here last album, 4, an album full of hits as this is an album full of album tracks, it isn't your traditional pop album but it does showcase that the former Destiny Child doesn't play by the rules.
If this move symbolised an attack on the music industry then she reaffirms the message on the feisty, Haunted. Flawless embodies feminism and Superpower spills with trust and love. Heaven is so peaceful that it is almost eerie and Blow is classic Beyonce as it has her signature sound all over it.
She has scrapped that sing-a-long chorus' for R'n'B beats and a hip hop edge that couldn't come across any more natural, having Jay-Z as a hubby was always going to shed influences. He features on Drunk In Love, then there's Drake who pops up on Mine and Frank Ocean on Superpower, you couldn't pick a better line up of cameo roles, Pharrell, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland put a hand in on production and Beyonce and Jay-Z first born makes her debut on the closing number, fittingly named, Blue. Everything about this album is a surprise, from its release to success, the sound and influences are all intertwined to see Mrs Carter in a new light.
For the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been Beyonce heavy, she must be doing something right, without really doing anything, except making music and giving it to her fans, scrapping the traditions of record labels and promo campaigns. It is no longer the future. This is now.
