Beyoncé Drops 2 New Songs, Unveils ‘Act II’ Release Date: Here’s When It Arrives
The Renaissance is now over. Listen to "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages" here.
Mere seconds after starring alongside Emmy-winning actor Tony Hale in a hilarious Verizon commercial during Super Bowl 2024, Beyoncé has finally revealed the second act of the three-act project she announced back in 2022.
On Sunday (Feb. 11), the “Cuff It” singer posted a mysterious teaser to her official Instagram page. In the video, an unidentified woman — presumably Beyoncé herself — starts up a car with a license plate that reads “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The woman drives the car down an empty road before the clip then cuts to a group of men staring incredulously at the sky. The focus of their stares? A billboard cutout of a red lingerie-clad Beyoncé lounging in a seductive pose.
“This ain’t Texas,” she croons over finger-picked guitars in the background. “Ain’t no hold ’em/ So lay our cards down, down, down, down.” The clip then cuts to a black screen that reads “Act II, 3.29.”
Queen Bey’s official website sports the same teaser, as well as the same date of March 29. Under the site’s music tab, a section for Act II includes empty credits section, clean and explicit tabs, and two track titles — “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” which are listed as the record’s opening two tracks, respectively. Both tracks are now available to stream on TIDAL and YouTube.
Between the references to her home state of Texas and the country sound of the new music snippet, it looks like fans were onto something with their theory that Beyoncé’s next LP will find her delving into country music. The still-untitled Act II is the follow-up to Renaissance. That album, Beyoncé’s seventh solo studio effort, debut atop the Billboard 200, spawned a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits — “Break My Soul” (No. 1) and “Cuff It” (No. 6) — and soundtracked the historic Renaissance World Tour, which grossed over $579 million.
Check out Beyoncé’s new Act II teaser and songs below: