Beyonce recently announced and set the release date of her forthcoming sixth solo album, Renaissance, as July 29. The album will feature dance and country-leaning tracks, reports Variety. This is the singer-songwriter’s first solo album in six years and will be a follow-up to 2016’s Lemonade.
The album will also see contributions from hit songwriter Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote her 2008 hit Halo as well as hits for Adele, Taylor Swift, the Jonas Bros., and his own group, OneRepublic.
In addition, singer, songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist Raphael Saadiq is also involved in the project. He has created hits for Mary J. Blige, D'Angelo, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Andra Day, and executive-produced A Seat at the Table, Beyonce's sister Solange's widely praised 2016 album. The multi-hyphenate also has solo albums to his name.
According to Variety, it was unclear whether the country songs will appear as a separate album, or as part of the first edition of Renaissance. Country is not a new terrain for Beyonce. Daddy Lessons from 2016's Lemonade, is heavy on twang and was even covered by the Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks).
Variety further stated that it may well be possible that Beyonce could drop a new song on Friday in honor of Juneteenth, as she did with her Black Parade single in 2020. Beyonce has released four albums since her blockbuster 2016 outing Lemonade although none of them are full Beyonce solo albums.
In 2018, she dropped Everything Is Love a tag-team with husband Jay-Z under the name The Carters. In April of 2019, she released Homecoming, an album of her galvanising 2018 headlining performance at Coachella, for which she was accompanied by a full marching band. The album was also released as a Netflix special as part of a $60 million deal. Beyonce followed this with The Lion King: The Gift, a companion album to the Disney film that featured several new songs from her.