Unless you've been living under a rock for the past day, you're probably well aware that Queen Beyoncé has released a new song titled "Formation," and a music video to boot. As you would expect, it's badass, gorgeous, politically charged, unapologetic, and it slays — it's basically all the things you'd expect from a Bey video and song. And while I'm not one to ever question when glorious things like an amazing new Beyoncé song are handed to me on a diamond-encrusted silver platter, considering the release of the song comes one day before her performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show with Coldplay and Bruno Mars, the timing seems a little suspect. Does this mean she'll be performing the song at the Super Bowl? Or, perhaps, could it mean that we should expect something more — like, say, Beyonce releasing a surprise album during the Super Bowl? After all, crazier things have happened, and it's not like Beyoncé has never dropped a surprise album with no warning ever before.
There's unfortunately no way of knowing whether or not Bey will be releasing a whole album during the game and halftime show until, well, it actually happens — that's the whole point of a surprise. And, judging by how well Bey is usually able to keep things like this under wraps (i.e., her surprise album Beyoncé in 2013, the release of "Formation" Saturday, etc.), I doubt fans are going to get any hints before the big day rolls 'round on Sunday. That said, I think there's evidence that points to two different possible answers to this question.
The first possibility, of course, is that she doesn't release a surprise album. She performs at the halftime show alongside Coldplay, slays the whole set, maybe performs "Formation" (if we're all lucky enough, anyway), and then the game goes on and football happens. I mean, Bey has already shocked the world with a surprise release once this weekend — would she really do it twice in the same weekend?
The second possibility is that she does release a surprise album. I could see this happening, considering it's somewhat of a trend now (Miley Cyrus did it after the MTV VMAs in 2015, if you remember), and the fact that "Formation" exists makes it clear she's been working on new material. But, that said, Bey is technically performing the halftime show alongside Coldplay — releasing an album might take away from the fact that they're supposed to be the headlining act (even though, let's be real, Bey kind of already did that with the release of "Formation." #SLAY).
It's impossible to tell at this point — and it doesn't look like we'll be getting a definitive answer until Sunday. As much as I'm dying to know whether or not I'm going to have new Bey tracks to listen to on repeat soon, though, I'm actually OK with that — I'm quickly finding listening to "Formation" for the 500th time makes a lot of things better.
Image: Beyoncé/YouTube
