Beyonce and Rihanna are in the same boat these days: both women were working on new albums for much of the past year (perhaps longer), and both women are not talking about when they’ll drop their new albums. Most people think Rihanna’s album is done and she’s just making fans wait before she drops it ahead of her tour. But Beyonce is another mystery altogether. The last time she dropped an album, it was a surprise release on iTunes complete with music videos, etc, etc. Beyonce is also no longer speaking on behalf of Beyonce, so she’s not going to do any advanced press for the album, unlike Rihanna who has been teasing this sh-t in the media for months. It’s totally possible that Rihanna and Beyonce will drop their albums within the same month, just as it’s totally possible that they’re coordinating with each other so no one’s thunder gets stolen. But there’s another theory going around: Beyonce completed her album last year, but held it back because she wanted to give Adele time to shine.
Her last album sold half a million copies in 24 hours. And while Beyonce has reportedly completed her brand new record, sources suggest she has delayed the release in order to allow another superstar to shine. Insiders have told The Sun that The Single Ladies hitmaker wrapped work on her sixth studio album at the end of last year, but she wanted to wait until the ‘hype’ around Adele’s comeback with 25 died down before unleashing her new material.
It’s thought that Beyonce will follow a similar tactic to her 2013 release, which saw her drop her self-titled fifth record and 14 videos on the same day in December. While the superstar was reportedly ready to release her sixth album at the close of 2015, sources have suggested the star stuck to a ‘code’ by allowing Adele to have her share of the spotlight with her first album in four years.
‘It was wrapped up at the end of 2015 but she held off on a release as a code of honour to Adele, so their records didn’t clash,’ an insider has alleged to The Sun. ‘Beyonce doesn’t have the pressure of releasing an album and is doing bits here and there because she and her team know it is Adele’s time to shine. The last few months have been all about her comeback…Now Adele’s sales are starting to die down, Beyonce is ready to drop her album at any time. But there’s a very strong chance the announcement could happen during the Super Bowl next month,’ the insider has added of Beyonce’s plan.
I’m trying to figure out if I think this is patronizing or sweet. Beyonce and Adele are friendly and supportive of one another, and Adele talked a lot about how much she loves Beyonce while she was doing press for 25. I think Beyonce would decide “let Adele have her moment” and on a professional-music level, that’s nice. But I also think Beyonce didn’t want to go head-to-head with Adele because then it wouldn’t be all about Beyonce, you know? Beyonce didn’t want to be outsold by Adele in a head-to-head match-up, and that was part of calculation too. Sigh… it’s really possible that Rih-Rih and Bey will both release albums in February. Can you wait that long?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Getty, WENN.
