In the middle of the Super Bowl, Beyoncé released two new singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” on Tidal and announced a new album that will be released on March 29.
Beyoncé dropped the singles on Tidal after her Verizon commercial, which aired during the Super Bowl, appeared to tease new music.
After the ad aired on Sunday, Beyoncé posted a video on Instagram featuring a snippet of new music with a country sound. At the end of the video, text appears that reads: “Act II, 3/29.” It seems safe to say that this could be a new album, as her 2022 project, Renaissance, was referred to as Act I.
In the Verizon ad, Beyoncé appeared with Tony Hale, working to “break the internet” and Verizon through gradually bigger stunts. She opens up a lemonade stand (a nod to her 2016 album), drops a surprise (a reference to her 2013 self-titled album), and launches a Twitch stream, as well as BeyoncAI and BarBey. She also announces that she’s running for Beyoncé of the United States, before ending with a performance in space. The commercial ends with Beyoncé saying, “OK, drop the music.”
Instantly, X was flooded with questioning fans trying to figure out what was going on and “Act II” and “Beyoncé” trending.
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Write to Moises Mendez II at moises.mendez@time.com