At long last, Beyoncé is releasing the follow-up to Renaissance.
The superstar teased the upcoming album in a surprise Verizon commercial that aired during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11. The ad shows Beyoncé attempting to break Verizon’s 5G network with a number of attention-grabbing schemes—from opening a lemonade stand to putting a “BarBey” spin on Barbie—before ultimately resorting to “drop[ping] the new music.” Soon after the commercial aired, she released the first teaser for the new project on her Instagram.
This is far from the first time Bey has dropped Easter eggs to promote new music. She teased latest album Renaissance in an interview for Harper’s Bazaar’s September 2021 cover story.
“I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible,” she said at the time. “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. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. 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!”
Ahead, we break down everything to know about the album she has billed as “Act II” of a trilogy that began with Renaissance.
What is the new album called?
In a March 12 post on the Instagram account for her company Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé announced that “Act II” is officially titled Cowboy Carter, and shared promotional limited-edition artwork along with the news.
What will be on the album?
Though we don’t know much about the specific contents of Cowboy Carter, it looks like it will pay homage to Bey’s Texan roots—judging from the teaser she posted on Instagram after the Super Bowl ad aired, on February 11. The clip shows her driving through a desert as banjo plays in the background, which led many fans to speculate she’d be shifting gears to release country music. (She’s waded into that genre before, with “Daddy Lessons,” from 2016’s Lemonade.)
What is the release date?
Per the aforementioned Instagram posts, Cowboy Carter will drop March 29.
What’s the track list?
While we don’t have a full track list yet, Beyoncé did announce the name of the two lead singles: “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages.” (Both tracks are already available to stream.)
Are there any visuals?
Yes, Beyoncé has already released two cover-art images.
One shows the singer wearing a metallic cup bra and a metallic chain garter and matching underwear, which she layered underneath a cropped leather jacket. She went big with her accessories, which included a black baseball cap and a massive pair of sparkly earrings.
The second image features a black-and-white portrait of Beyoncé, clad in a cowboy hat and a studded country-western-style shirt.
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers’ rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.