Beyoncé said in an interview with GQ magazine that she purposefully did not release any music videos for songs off her last two albums, 2022’s “Renaissance” and 2024’s “Cowboy Carter,” because she wanted the focus to remain on her voice and the music itself. Fans urged the singer to “release the visuals” after she never dropped any “Renaissance” videos, but it was all by design.
“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” Beyoncé said. “The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own.”
“Sometimes a visual can be a distraction from the quality of the voice and the music,” she added. “The years of hard work and detail put into an album that takes over four years! The music is enough. The fans from all over the world became the visual. We all got the visual on tour. We then got more visuals from my film.”
Beyoncé launched the Renaissance World Tour in May 2023. It ran for 53 shows through October of the same year and was eventually recorded for “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” a feature-length concert film that opened in theaters last December. She has not yet announced a tour to support the “Cowboy Carter” album.
Elsewhere during her GQ magazine interview, Beyoncé was asked what music and film is currently inspiring her. She listed the following artists: “Raye, Victoria Monét, Sasha Keable, Chloe x Halle, and Reneé Rapp. I love Doechii and GloRilla, and I just heard That Mexican OT, he’s from Houston…. He goes hard! I really like ‘Please Please Please’ by Sabrina Carpenter, and I think that Thee Sacred Souls and Chappell Roan are talented and interesting. I’m obsessed with my backseat baby [Miley Cyrus]…. I’m a Smiler.”
“But the truth is, I spend most of my time listening to the classics, like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and music from artists on the Stax label,” Beyoncé added. “I just watched that documentary. It’s so good! I highly recommend it. The best movie I’ve seen this year is ‘Inside Out 2.’ I think it’s brilliant, and I’m currently watching ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘The Chi.’”
Head over to GQ magazine’s website to read Beyoncé’s latest interview in its entirety.
