Did Beyonce Surprise Release Two New Albums? Who Is ‘Queen Carter’?
Beyonce is no stranger to sending the BeyHive into a frenzy by surprise-dropping an album now and then, but on Thursday (Dec. 20) fans were left a bit uncertain after two whole albums containing previously unreleased (though not necessarily unheard) material were uploaded to streaming platforms.
An entire collection of apparent demos and unreleased tracks from the early to mid-2000s and 2010s appeared on Apple Music and Spotify late Thursday evening under the name "Queen Carter."
Two albums were uploaded, each containing 10 tracks: Back Up, Rewind and Have Your Way.
Some fans were, of course, convinced that hackers were responsible for leaking the body of previously private work, including songs like "Hey Goldmember," "Black Culture," "Sexy Lil Thug" and "Lost Yo Mind," tracks which contain the sonic hallmarks and stylings of Beyonce's older music.
As it turns out, the releases were leaks after all. Just as quickly as they appeared, the songs were taken down off all streaming services.
But Bey wasn't the only artist who was victim to a leak on Thursday.
An album of old SZA demos also appeared on streaming services under the name "Sister Solana," which the artist addressed by tweeting that the songs were "def not new" and just "random scratches from 2015."