Beyonce will release a new album called Renaissance next month after a six-year hiatus.
The pop superstar's last full length solo release, in 2016, was Lemonade, which was accompanied by a 65-minute film of the same title and went to number one in many countries.
The 40 year old confirmed the first part of her music project will be released on 29 July, writing in her Instagram bio: "Act i, RENAISSANCE, 7.29."
Tidal, the global music streaming platform of which her husband Jay-Z has previously owned stakes in, also tweeted the album's name and date.
Beyoncé
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) June 16, 2022
RENAISSANCE
July 29 pic.twitter.com/ZenmtPQM9W
The announcement comes days after the star wiped her social media profile photos, prompting speculation from fans that new music was on the way.
In 2013, her self-titled album was released in the early hours of the morning without warning.
Meanwhile, British Vogue's editor-in-chief Edward Enninful teased that a "thrilling abundance" of new music was coming from the popstar as she was announced as the cover star of the July issue of the magazine.
Enninful said: "New music is coming – a thrilling abundance of it. The creation has been a long process, she explains, with the pandemic giving her far longer to spend thinking and rethinking every decision. Just the way she likes it.
"Beyonce Knowles-Carter, a writer of excellent and lengthy texts, had taken to messaging me as we brainstormed the direction of her Vogue shoot together. A fashion fantasia spun from the tropes of club life during the last century's final quarter."
He wrote about being on set, saying: "It was a magical mood and soon B was walking around feeling easy and free to be herself. Her husband and kids came to surprise her on set. It was a family day out – albeit a slightly surreal one."
Last August, Beyonce told Harpers Bazaar magazine in a rare interview that she had been in the studio for a year and a half working on new music.
She said: "With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again.
"I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.
"I've been in the studio for a year and a half. Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare.
"One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.
"Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio.
"After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!"
The singer, who has been married to rapper and businessman Jay-Z since 2008, made history last year when she became the most decorated female artist at the Grammy Awards.
She won four awards out of nine nominations, making it 28 over her career, which surpasses the 27 of bluegrass-country singer, Alison Krauss.
Beyonce and Jay-Z had daughter Blue Ivy in January 2012, and in June 2017 she gave birth to twins Rumi and Sir.
Source: Press Association
