As fan fiction goes, it appears it’s a case of the bigger the star, the more elaborate the story.
Just ask Beyonce.
The mega-seller found herself at the centre of a fake-tracklist storm last week, after well-executed line-sheet – supposedly featuring new songs from the re-release of her self-titled album – begun doing the rounds.
Featuring collaborations with the likes of Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, the image gained ample traction and was covered by a multitude of outlets – including many of the major variety.
We, however, held out for official confirmation, which materlized just a few days later and featured none of the alleged new numbers. Instead, two fresh cuts – ‘7/11’ and ‘Ring Off’ – were confirmed along with remixes featuring the likes of Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.
With the dust from the confusion settling, a rep from Bey’s team spoke with Billboard about the episode, as well as plans for the singer’s future releases.
Full story below…
Lee Anne Callahan-Longo, General Manager at Parkwood Entertainment (the singer’s self-created company), said of the fabricated tracklist:
“It’s completely made up. After all the hubbub this weekend, we kind of said, ‘Well, let’s just put it out and say what it is.’ It’s funny, I got a bunch of calls over the weekend and I would say, ‘It’s exciting to know people are excited.’ Even if they’re reporting it wrong, and that people would take their time to go and create a fake one-sheet — right down to using a Columbia logo on it. I would love to know who did it. They clearly knew what a line sheet used to look like – they don’t look like that anymore.
You could never have imagined their creativity. So seeing some of those [song] names, that was so fun and exciting.”
Speaking on the release strategy for the superstar’s future projects, Callahan-Longo strongly inferred that Team Bey won’t be looking to repeat the “surprise” tactic used in the roll-out of last year’s groundbreaking visual album. She said:
“You can only be first once, so I’m not sure we’d want to do it again. We typically at Parkwood like to look at projects where, if it isn’t unique or different in some way, it’s really not interesting to us.” {Source}
Interesting.
That said, from where we’re standing, the diversion from the surprise angle is much less a “because we want to” and more a “because we have to”.
Realistically, as epic and game-changing as the ‘Beyonce’ roll-out was, it created a problem in itself: how could it be topped?
Yes, it’s a great “problem” to have in that it’ll keep Bey and her team on their toes creatively and commercially, but it’s good to see they understand the need to move away from “shock and awe” as the default mode. Novelty only lasts so long.
Still, the rep’s comments have us amped, as it seems “innovation and elevation” are the motives moving forward – both of which provide exciting prospects in themselves.