Beyoncé Drops New Music And Announces 'Renaissance: Act II' During The Super Bowl

By Brian Richards | Celebrity | February 12, 2024 |

By Brian Richards | Celebrity | February 12, 2024 |

One week after her husband got up on stage at the Grammys, and called out the Recording Academy for their questionable judgment in never honoring her work with an Album of the Year award, Beyoncé not only appeared at the Usher concert (or as everyone else called it, the Super Bowl) in Las Vegas with Jay-Z, and their two daughters, but she appeared in a commercial for Verizon that aired during the Super Bowl, opposite Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep). The commercial parodied Beyoncé’s known ability to practically break the Internet with nearly everything she does, and showed just how reliable Verizon is by not having its Internet service break down and fall apart like the McFlurry machine at McDonald’s.

It was Beyoncé’s closing line in the ad (“Okay, they ready! Drop the new music!”) that piqued the curiosity of the Beyhive. Was she just being playful, or was this her way of telling the world that we were about to get some new music from her? That curiosity soon led to fans looking all over the Internet for any possible clues that would answer their question. They looked on her Instagram, her website, and her YouTube page, and there was nothing to be found. Eventually, they began to wonder why Beyoncé was playing with our emotions like this, and making us wait in the dark even longer to find out when we’d finally get her next album.

Fortunately for the Beyhive, and the rest of us, that wait turned out to be a very short one, as this teaser soon dropped not too long after the Verizon commercial aired.

The teaser had confirmed the persistent rumors that Renaissance: Act II would be a country album, much like how Renaissance: Act I was a tribute to disco and house music, and it’s assumed that Act III, whenever it drops, will be Beyoncé’s foray into rock-and-roll.

After the teaser premiered, two singles from Act II were released: “Texas Hold’ Em” and “16 Carriages.” They were only available on Tidal at first, which resulted in a lot of fans trying really damn hard to remember their Tidal usernames and passwords (just ask Joel Kim Booster), but soon became available for listening on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.

As if Usher’s performance at the halftime show wasn’t enough to make some people (especially those on social media) care even less about the Super Bowl, Beyoncé using the event to announce her next album only added to that indifference. They were more focused on praising her hair and outfit that she was rocking to the Super Bowl, and how her sudden need to rock cowboy hats and Dolly Parton hair to go with them suddenly made a lot more sense, as well as how much they enjoyed both singles. They hoped that Beyoncé would hopefully collaborate with other artists on Act II, like The Dixie Chicks, or with Lady Gaga, so that we could finally get the sequel to “Telephone” that fans have been waiting and asking for ever since “To Be Continued” appeared at the end of that song’s music video. The Beyhive also pointed out that Act II’s focus on country music was another example of Beyoncé bringing more focus and attention to genres of music that Black people were largely responsible for creating, and to the Black artists who have helped — and who continue to help — make those musical genres what they are today, even though many of their contributions have either been ignored or forgotten. Artists like Linda Martell, who was the first Black musician to perform at the Grand Ole Opry; and Rhiannon Giddens, folk musician and founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who not only plays the banjo and the viola on “Texas Hold’ Em,” but has also discussed the history of the banjo, and its unexpectedly strong connection to music made by African-Americans.

And most of all, Beyoncé’s fans were focused on how she was once again making them start saving their money for her next concert tour, as well as going shopping for cowboy hats and boots for them to wear to the club, and for them to wear if they actually get tickets to see her perform live. As Black Twitter and the Beyhive have already proven back in 2016 when Beyoncé performed “Daddy Lessons” with The Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Awards, and again in 2019 when Lil Nas X joined forces with Billy Ray Cyrus to record a remix of “Old Town Road,” they can and will throw down for some good country music if it’s to their liking, and especially if that country music is being performed by Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.

Renaissance: Act II is scheduled for release on March 29. I, however, will continue to hold out hope that her album of saxophone music, Let’s Get Saxy, will become a reality and also be released as well.