Beyoncé sends fans wild with act one of new album Renaissance - and teases two more instalments

Beyoncé released ‘Act 1’ of her highly anticipated album, Renaissance, today (29 July).

She originally teased the release date of Act 1 on 30 June, saying: “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world.”

The new album has been highly anticipated since the release of single Break My Soul on 20 June, which reached number one in South Africa, Lebanon, Croatia and Israel.

The song also reached number one on Billboards US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs charts and sat at number two on the UK Dance charts.

The first act of her seventh studio album has 16 songs, and features verses from BEAM, Grace Jones and Tems.

Beyoncé left a note on her website, revealing that fans can expect a second and third part to the 2022 album.

She wrote: “This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic.

“A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.

“Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving.

“My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgement. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration”

She ended the note with “Love y’all deep, B”.

Less than 24 hours since its release, fans have been going crazy for the new album on social media.

And over 500 fans have already picked their top three songs.

Renaissance is Beyoncé’s first album in six years since Lemonade, marking the longest gap between studio albums in her career.

The album was written and produced by herself, along with help from her husband Jay-Z, Nova Wav, The-Dream, Symbolyc One, Honey Dijon, Beam, Tricky Stewart, Bloodpop, Skrillex, Hit-Boy, P2J, and others.

• She is 40-years-old and lives in Bel Air, Los Angeles.
• Before being a solo singer, she was a member of girls group Destiny’s Child.
• Her first number one hit was Crazy in Love.
• She is married to rapper Jay-Z - with whom she shares three children.
• Her net worth is $500 million (around £413 million).

Beyonce

Singer-songwriter

Her Career: Beyoncé’s career began when she was eight years old, and became a member of Girl’s Tyme (now known as Destiny’s Child).

After a lot of hardship and failed attempts, the group got a contract with Columbia Records in 1996 and subsequently changed their name to Destiny’s Child.

A year later, they released their first major label song, Killing Time, which featured on the soundtrack for Men in Black.

In October 2001, after releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas, the group announced a hiatus so that they could each pursue solo careers.

In 2004, they reunited and released Destiny’s Childs fifth and final studio album, Destiny Fulfilled.

Beyoncé made her film debut in 2002, as Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Power in Goldmember, alongside Mike Myers.

That same year, she had her first solo recording as part of Jay-Z’s song 03 Bonnie & Clyde - and she released her first solo album, Dangerously in Love - which featured hit songs Crazy in Love and Baby Boy.

Since then she has released albums B’Day (2006), I Am.. Sasha Fierce (2008), 4 (2011), Beyoncé (2013), Lemonade (2016) and her newest album Renaissance (2022).

The singer has also had a range of acting gigs since her film debut in 2002 - she has starred in The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Obsessed (2009), and Black is King (2020).

Her Successes: Throughout her career as a solo singer and a member of Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé and her songs have been nominated for a total of 1357 awards

Of those, the singer has won 542 awards including World’s Greatest Popstar in 2009, Best Artist of the Year in 2014 and Best Music Video in 2021.

She has been nominated for Best International Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards five times, winning once in 2004.

Beyoncé has been nominated for 81 Grammy Awards - and has won 28 of them including Best Rap Song in 2021, Record of the Year in 2010 and Best Music Video in 2017 and 2021.

She currently holds 11 Guinness World Records, including most Grammy Awards won in a single year (2010) by a female artist, most Grammy Awards nominations for a Female Artist and most Grammy Awards won by a vocalist.

Her Childhood: Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas.

She attended dance classes at St Mary’s Montessori School, where her singing was discovered by dance instructor Darlette Johnson who began humming a song that Beyoncé finished, and she even hit the high-pitched notes.

In 1990, Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she would perform with the school’s choir.

She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Her Money: Her estimated net worth is $500 million (around £413 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.

They also list Jay-Z as having a higher net worth of  $1.3 billion (around £1 billion), which gives the couple a combined total of  $1.8 billion (around £1.5 million).

Celebrity Net Worth lists Beyoncé and Jay-Z as the fifth richest couple in the world, behind Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham.

Her Connections: Despite the fact that Beyoncé follows 0 people on Instagram, she does have many famous connections.

As you know, she was once in a band called Destiny’s Child, alongside Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland.

Since the trio split up in the early 2000’s, they have continued to do reunions and stay very close with Beyoncé calling them her “sisters”.

Kelly posted to Instagram on Beyoncé’s birthday last year, calling her a “day one”.

Michelle also revealed that the famous singing trio have a groupchat, as she showed her followers that the girls still “check in” on eachother.

Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z met Gwyneth Paltrow and her then-husband Christ Martin in 2006, at a charity gala in New York.

Jay-Z referenced their friendship in his 2006 song, Hollywood, where he rapped “When your friends is Chris and Gwyneth. When your girl is more famous than Juventus. Then it’s time to get all your windows tinted”.

The two couples have stayed friends since, despite the divorse of Gwyneth and Chris - and it reported that their

Beyoncé and Jay-Z were once regular faces in the White House, after creating a bond with former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

She performed America the Beautiful at Barack’s presidential inauguration in 2009, and two days later sang Etta James’ At Last for Barack and Michelle’s first inaugural ball.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z held a fundraiser at his club in Manhattan to raise money for Barack’s 2012 presidential campaign.

In 2013, she was chosen to perform the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, at Barack’s second inauguration.

This week, Barack took to twitter to share his 2022 summer playlist - and Beyoncé’s Break My Soul is the first song on the list!

Beyoncé has starred in films alongside Steve Martin, Idris Elba, Mike Myers, Naomi Campbell and Pharrell Williams.

Her Relationships: Beyoncé began dating rapper Jay-Z after the pair collaborated on a song for his seventh album in 2002.

They got married in April 2008, at a private function - and continued to keep their relationship fairly private until 2013.

On January 7, 2013 Beyoncé gave birth to their first child, Blue Ivy.

Later, in February 2017, the singer announced that they were expecting twins - this became the most liked post on Instagram.

On June 13, 2017 Beyoncé gave birth to daughter Rumi and son Sir.

She announced the birth via Instagram, with a picture of her and the twins - this then became the second most liked post on the platform, with over 10 millions likes.