Our lord and savior, Beyoncé, announced via a hilarious Super Bowl Verizon commercial over the weekend that her new album—the follow-up to her smash hit Renaissance aptly titled Act II—will be released on March 29th, 2024.
In the commercial, Beyoncé attempted to “break” Verizon’s apparently unbreakable network coverage by doing increasingly hilarious media stunts—including starring in Bar-Bey, a Barbie parody, and running for “BOTUS,” Beyoncé of the United States (of course).
However, when nothing managed to break Verizon’s network, she settled for breaking the internet (and viewers’ brains) instead by ending the commercial with a simple declaration meant directly for the audience: “Okay, they’re ready! Drop the new music.”
Fans scrambled to find the new music online, delighted to discover the mega-star had dropped two brand new songs—“Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”—and they were further delighted to find the artist’s semi-unexpected genre shift to Country music was officially confirmed.
The genre shift was, as stated, only semi-unexpected, as Beyoncé’s devoted fan base—known to most online as the “BeyHive”—had put two-and-two together weeks ago, and had long-whispered rumors of a possible country album incoming (though, this isn’t by any means the singer’s first foray into Country music, given her iconic track “Daddy Lessons” on Lemonade—and, you know, the fact that she’s from Houston, Texas).
Naturally, long-time fans were quick to joke and meme about the massive announcement, and especially about their general feelings toward the country music genre as a whole:
In short: YEE-HAW and whatnot! March 29th can’t get here fast enough.