To her fans delight, Beyoncé has opened up about how she kept her chart-topping new visual album a secret from everyone.
At a release part and directors’ screening at the School of Visual Arts Theater on Saturday in New York City, she shared the details on the measures she took not to spoilt the surprise, which she insists was actually the toughest part of making the album. Beyoncé answered burning questions from fans via Instagram after guests screened all 17 videos on the new album.
If you’re wondering who was responsible for all of the amazing video concepts on the album, you can thank Bey for that. She wrote all the treatments and handpicked the directors.
Beyoncé told the audience that she is comfortable in her own skin and credited motherhood as her inspiration to open up more than ever about her relationship with hubby Jay-Z on this album calling it “something that changes you.”
The nickname “Yonce” was created by The-Dream, she revealed. As for the video production process, Mrs. Carter took unusual measures to keep her new songs hush-hush while filming. She admitted that she wore earbuds when she shot the video for “XO” in Coney Island to keep the public in the dark.
“They had a lot of static, and you could barely hear and I’m trying to lip synch to the lyrics,” Beyoncé told fans. “I could barely hear anything … And people are like, ‘Hey, Beyoncé!’”
The message behind the album, said the singer, is to “Own your imperfections and all the things that make you interesting.”
However, what mattered most to the star was making sure the surprise was real for her true fans.
“I really, really wanted to surprise people, and for them really just to hear the art and not be about the hype and the promotion,” she said. “And we actually did it.”
Well done, Bey.
