An upbeat, radio-ready lead single. An album title and release date well in advance. A magazine cover storyfollowed by a personal mission statement, a new social media account, a detailed track listing, and a merchandise presale.
For most musicians, these are time-honored points in the playbook for introducing a major new album. But for Beyoncé, who has spent more than the past decade upending all the conventions of how to market music, the release of “Rebirth,” her latest album due out Friday, is a surprising change, and perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that the game has changed. .
Before “Rebirth,” Beyoncé’s seventh solo studio album, the last time the singer engaged in industry-standard baby steps, with “4” in 2011, President Barack Obama was still in his first term and a new European music company called Spotify had just arrived in the United States. Since then, there hasn’t been much about the formula for selling new music that Beyoncé hasn’t tweaked, discontinued, or completely dismantled.
first there was “Beyonce,” 2013’s surprising paradigm-shifting “visual album.” Then came “Lemonade” (2016), an allusive tour de force that arrived with more mystery like a movie on cable TV. By partnering closely with Tidal, the streaming service then controlled by her husband, Jay-Z, and media giants like HBO, Disney and Netflix, Beyoncé has positioned one ambitious multimedia project after another as something to be carefully sought out and considered. , rather than served to facilitate access and maximum consumption.
That work, and the innovative way she released it, has helped Beyoncé skyrocket in artistic stature. However, it has also served to distance the singer somewhat from the pop music mainstream, by isolating her material: the “Lemonade” album wasn’t widely available on major streaming platforms until three years after its initial release. , while its full movie is currently available. only on Tidal, and potentially hampering her commercial performance.
Beyoncé’s last No. 1 single as a lead artist, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” came in late 2008. Even though her 28 Grammy Awards make her the most winning woman in music, no No trophy has been won. in a top category since 2010. Ella’s radio play for ella’s new solo releases has dropped significantly since “4”. And while all six of her solo albums went to No. 1, intermediate projects like “Everything Is Love” (a surprise joint album with Jay-Z), the Soundtrack of “The Lion King” and his concert album “Homecoming” they have failed to reach the top.
Still, the Beyoncé paradox has meant that while she has slipped a bit on the charts, her greatest cultural cachet has remained paramount, fueled by the mystique and grandeur she brings to each project. (“My success can’t be quantified,” she rapped on 2018’s “Nice,” poking fun at the importance of “broadcasting numbers.”)
“She’s still the leader of the culture, regardless of the relatively minor data points in her world, like album sales and radio play,” he said. Daniel Smithveteran music journalist and author of the recent “Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop”.
“There are people who exist in this world to change the culture, to change the environment,” he said in an interview. “It matters to some extent, the singles or the albums or the radio, but what really matters is that they make us look in a new direction.”
However, from the beginning, the release of “Renaissance” has been different: more transparent, more conventional. Described by Beyoncé, 40, in a instagram post last month as “a place to be free from perfectionism and overthinking”, the album is positioning itself for mass consumer awareness and fan excitement, with four different boxed sets and a limited edition vinyl release that They are already sold out on the singer’s website.
“She and her management are acknowledging that things have changed since the release of her last album, and she has to go full court to the press,” said Rob Jonas, CEO of Luminate, the music data service behind the bands. Billboard charts.
A major risk of the old-fashioned release strategy, which requires physical copies of the album to be produced well in advance, materialized on Wednesday, when “Rebirth” appeared to leak in its entirety online. Fan accounts on social media speculated that the first unofficial version could come from CDs that were sold prematurely in Europe.
Immediately, Beyoncé’s famous protective base, known as BeyHive, sprang into action, seeking to discourage early listeners and unite to denounce those who spread the bootleg.
While early leaks of major albums were common as the CD era gave way to digital downloads and could devastate prospects for a new album, the crackdown on digital piracy and the shift to a streaming model the first time, along with surprise releases like Beyoncé’s, have reduced that threat.
The last time Beyoncé suffered a major leak was with “4” in 2011, when she told listeners, “Although this is not how I wanted to present my new songs, I appreciate the positive response from my fans.” (Representatives for Beyoncé and her label declined to comment on her release strategy and did not immediately respond to questions about the leak.)
Behind the scenes, the luxury of advance notice and hallelujah! — an early promotional single can give industry gatekeepers like radio stations and streaming services the clue to get involved before an album release.
“Having something before launch is a gift,” said Michael Martin, senior vice president of programming for Audacy, which operates more than 230 radio stations across the country. “When you have time to prepare, you can be a better marketing partner with the artist, label and management. You can have everything ready to go by the time the project hits the ecosystem. Is that what you want. You don’t want to fight.
“break my soul”, a throwback to 1990s dance music and the first single from “Renaissance”, was released more than a month ago. With 57 million streams and 61,000 radio spins in the United States, according to Luminate, the song currently ranks at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, her peak to date and only Beyoncé’s third time reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. last decade. as main artist. (Her two most recent hits of hers came as a guest: “Perfect Duet” with Ed Sheeran in 2017 and “Savage Remix” with Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.)
However, as with most things Beyoncé, the commercial and the artistic can go hand in hand. Smith said preparations for the release of “Rebirth” coincided with classic references to it, for example, the special attention paid to the album’s elaborate vinyl packaging, which has once again become a landmark. big top pop pitches accessory.
“Once I realized that Beyoncé was going back a little bit, musically and artistically, with her sound and her allusions, the release started to make sense to me,” Smith said. “It’s all very meta.”
Another key recent development is that of Beyoncé arrival on TikTokthe home of bite-sized shareable videos that has been one of the most trusted boosters of music hits for at least three years, as well as a fashion platform for younger stars like Lizzo and Cardi B.
This month, Beyoncé’s official account posted her first TikToks: a montage of fans, including Cardi, dancing to “Break My Soul,” followed by the vinyl artwork reveal of “Rebirth,” and the singer recently made it the entire music catalog available to rate user-generated videos on the platform.
Short-form videos generate “mass awareness and downward consumption,” said Luminate’s Jonas. “We have a clear line of sight on that.” Even before her involvement, Beyoncé songs like “Savage Remix” and “Yoncé” he thrived on TikTok.
Whether or not the direct release of “Rebirth” represents a return to total pop dominance for Beyoncé, there’s still a chance she has more moves to make. The album, after all, has been teased by the singer as “Act I,” indicating that it might just be one part of a larger project.
“It all feels too much like she’s playing by the rules right now,” Jonas said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there are any twists and turns that we’re not yet aware of.”
Part of Beyoncé’s cultural dominance, Smith said, has included the ability to make herself scarce at times and then return to being the center of everything when she chooses. “At this point, she allows others to take a breath, but she is at her whim, as she sees fit,” Smith said. “Her overall impact of her, how she moves, what she wears, she is unmatched.”
He added: “I think if Beyoncé woke up and decided, at the age of 42, 45 or 50, that she wanted to rule the culture at all data points Y impact then I could, like Cher before her, like Tina Turner before her, without really breaking a sweat.”