With not a word of warning, at a time of year known for its poverty of new releases, hipshaking R&B super-princess Beyoncé released her fifth studio albuma as a “Mastered for iTunes” joint. And even though no one knew it was coming, it still managed to crash iTunes for a spell. Thanks, Beyoncé.
The new album is called Beyoncé — a fantastic title vetted by focus groups that lets you know just what to expect! But the point is no one expected it. Instead, word spread virally about the album’s surprise release over Twitter, and The Daily Mail claims that it “caused iTunes to temporarily crash as fans rushed to download it,” an assertion we’ve seeen backed up by a few readers as well.
So why didn’t anyone know this was coming? According to Beyoncé’s press release, the artist was worried about leaks, so she designed an iTunes-only launch as a “preventative plan. The album will be offered as a cohesive body of work with every song and every video available all at once for one single purchase.”
Yeah, okay, makes sense. As for the album itself, it features guest appearances by Frank Ocean, Drake, and Jay-Z, and comes with a separate music video for each song. You can buy it for $16 from iTunes.
Source: iTunes
