After, my Thursday night ritual of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, I decided to stay up late and finish my tacky/ugly Christmas sweater, in an effort to stabilize my pressure (*shakes fist Shonda Rhimes*). After completing it, I decided to read a few chapters of a book, I picked up from the library. Finishing the book, I went to see what the Twitterworld was saying about the jaw-dropping winter finale episode of Scandal and surprisingly no one – that’s not true—was talking about it.
WHY?
Because Beyoncé dropped a Friday the 13th album on the world – unannounced.
My timelines were frantic, the hashtags were out of control. She’s been dropping little hints of new music (i.e. “Grown Woman”, “Standing on the Sun”), but never revealed as much as an album title, release date or lead single. Then this morning happened. She hit us with a sneak attack. A self-titled “visual album” with 14 tracks and 17 videos.
“I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it. I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans,” Beyonce said in the album’s announcement on Thursday.
“I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out,” she added. “I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.”
I wrote a blog post not too long ago about the genius marketing strategy of her husband – Jay Z – with his Magna Carta Holy Grail album. However, this release absolutely changes the game.
According to her label – The album is currently available as an iTunes exclusive and manufacturing of physical albums begins Thursday. A double disc CD/DVD will be available before the holidays.
As a student of public relations and marketing, I’m impressed and can’t wait to see the album sale numbers.