Beyoncé has announced the second album in her Renaissance trilogy will be released on 29 March, in surprise news that came during the 58th Super Bowl, and was accompanied by two new singles.
The two new singles, Texas Hold Em and 16 Carriages, indicate that “Act II” will be a country-themed accompaniment to the dance and house music juggernaut that was 2022’s Renaissance.
The surprise songs were dropped after a self-referential teaser during the Super Bowl, as part of a Verizon ad campaign.
In the ad, Beyoncé was shown trying unsuccessfully to break the internet via a series of stunts – a film called Barbey, a hologram called Beyonc-AI, a presidential campaign for Botus – before proclaiming: “OK, they ready. Drop the new music.”
Shortly after the ad was broadcast, a new clip was posted to Beyoncé’s Instagram, teasing the single Texas Hold Em and promising “Act II” will drop on 29 March.
Beyoncé fans have been expecting a new accompaniment to Renaissance since the first album was released in July 2022. “This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic,” Beyoncé wrote in the liner notes accompanying the record at the time. “A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.”
Accompanying artwork has been released for the two new singles, with both featuring Beyoncé wearing a cowboy hat. She wore a white cowboy hat to the Grammys last week, where her husband, Jay-Z, accepted an award for his global impact.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour grossed $579m and was followed by Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé – part-documentary, part concert film, which hit US cinemas in November. The artist released a new single, My House, the following month.
Beyoncé’s “Act II” reveal follows a string of high profile country album announcements this month, after Lana Del Rey confirmed her own country record Lasso was in the works earlier in February; and country star Kasey Musgraves announced that her fifth record, Deeper Well, will come out in mid-March.
After Beyoncé’s announcement on Sunday, rapper and singer Lil Nas X – who smashed records with his own viral country-themed single Old Town Road in 2019 – posted on X: “Beyoncè finna make me put my cowboy hat back on”.
