Beyhive, this is not a drill.
On Wednesday night, Beyonce revealed that her highly anticipated seventh studio album, "Renaissance," is coming July 29. The announcement comes shortly after the singer raised fans' suspicions by wiping the profile pictures on her social media accounts — suggesting something big was on the way.
The "Formation" artist broke the news via her social media bios, which now read, "act i RENAISSANCE 7.29." Tidal, the music streaming platform co-owned by Beyonce and husband Jay-Z, also shared the title and release date on social media.
"Renaissance" is set to arrive six years after Beyonce's last studio album, "Lemonade," came out. That seminal project was nominated for nine Grammy awards, including record ("Formation"), song ("Formation") and album of the year. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked "Lemonade" No. 32 on its list of the 500 best albums of all time.
Since "Lemonade," Beyonce has kept busy by famously headlining Coachella (dubbed "Beychella" by fans) in 2018 and releasing a Grammy-winning Netflix documentary about it, "Homecoming." She also starred as Nala in Disney's 2019 remake of "The Lion King" and recorded an entire tandem album — including the Golden Globe-nominated song "Spirit" — for the film.
The following year, Beyonce co-wrote, co-directed and executive produced "Black Is King," a visual version of her "Lion King" album. And in 2021, the visionary musician became the most Grammy-winning female artist of all time after accepting the prize for R&B performance for her hit single, "Black Parade."
Most recently, the music icon opened the 2022 Oscars with a stunning live performance of "Be Alive" — her song from the movie "King Richard" — filmed at a public tennis court in Compton.
Before the debut of "Renaissance," Beyonce will grace the July cover of British Vogue. The vocalist told the fashion magazine that creating new music has been a lengthy process magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave her more time to think and rethink every decision. Beyonce's regal British Vogue cover and profile hits newsstands June 21.
Naturally, the Beyhive has been buzzing nonstop since the album title dropped. Though "Renaissance" has already received more advance promotion than some of her other surprise releases, fans remain in awe of Queen B's unique ability to sell a product without even trying.
"Only Beyonce, a woman 25 years in the game, could shake the entire WORLD (again!) after midnight to charge $40 for CDs with no music, no artwork, no tracklist, no trailer & no visuals," one person tweeted. "AND WE'RE ALL GONNA BUY IT!"
"Beyonce has people buying boxes with no idea what's inside during inflation," wrote Philip Lewis, senior front page editor at the Huffington Post. "Her power."
———
