Beyoncé released the self-titled visual album Beyoncé in 2013.
The album appeared unexpectedly on the iTunes Store on December 13, 2013, without a conventional pre-release promotional campaign. It was Beyoncé’s fifth solo studio album and was accompanied by a video for every song, giving the project its “visual album” description. The release helped popularize the idea of a surprise album launch at major pop scale.
The record includes songs such as “Drunk in Love,” “Partition,” “Flawless,” and “XO.” Jay-Z appears on “Drunk in Love,” while other collaborators include Drake, Frank Ocean, Pharrell Williams, and Timbaland. The project explores sexuality, identity, motherhood, and performance.
Some listeners confuse the album’s release with the year of its recording or with the release of Lemonade, Beyoncé’s next visual album, which arrived in 2016. Beyoncé was not merely a collection of music videos added after the fact; its audio and visual components were released together as a unified project.