Beyoncé has revealed the title of what appears to be her next solo album, Renaissance, which will be released on July 29.
After the musician, 40, uploaded the words “act I RENAISSANCE” on social media, streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal – all of which are controlled by her husband, rapper Jay-Z — posted minimalist artwork with the same wording and invited fans to pre-order the album. According to the Apple Music listing, the album will have 16 tracks.
Renaissance, if it is a typical Beyoncé solo album – or the first of a multi-part release – will be her seventh overall and the follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2016 album Lemonade.
Since then, she’s released two albums: Everything Is Love, a collaboration album with Jay-Z, in 2018, and The Lion King: The Gift, the soundtrack she arranged for Disney’s photorealistic animated version of The Lion King, in 2019. In November 2021, she released a single called Be Alive for the soundtrack of the film King Richard.
Fans were anticipating the reveal after Beyoncé removed her profile photo from social media sites earlier this month and teased a new project on her website with the words “What is a B7?”
She told Harper’s Bazaar last year that she had started working on new music. “With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,” she said. “I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible. I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half.”
“Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare,” she said of her extremely collaborative music-making process. Up to 200 layered harmonies can be found in a single chorus.
“Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”
NME has named Beyoncé’s upcoming seventh full-length album as one of the 20 albums to look forward to in 2022.