10 Albums That Were Released Completely By Surprise

In the world of pop music, you normally expect some big rollouts for every single new release that came out. Even as far back as 2013, you had bands and artists alike hyping up their albums like it was the Second Coming of musical Jesus, from Arcade Fire having a whole TV special for their record release to Lady Gaga making an art expose for the rollout of her new album Artpop. And then Beyonce released an album without so much as telling people about it.

Compared to the other musical juggernauts in her field, Beyonce went against the grain with her self titled record, having virtually no build up and just releasing it on a whim, as the fans roared in once they had the album in front of them. Looking back on the music within though, you can understand why Queen Bey may not have wanted as much anticipation for this project, being a much more naked version of what her style was, from the love behind songs like XO to the carnal desires of Drunk in Love.

In between the radio friendly stuff though, Beyonce had the seeds planted for what would become Lemonade on this album as well, with tracks like Flawless having the same kind of size and scope that you would see on tracks like 6 Inch and Formation, while also playing with the sound that made her famous to begin with. Even though this may have been a weird way to get acquainted with the project, Beyonce let us know that she had not even begun to hit her stride after almost a decade in the business.