Music

Everyone On Twitter Made The Same Joke About Beyonce And Jay-Z’s New Album

One person can make a lot of free trials.

by Jared Richards  18 June 2018
Everything Is Love

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Yesterday, Beyoncé made the world stop once again with that digital drop, as weekend plans across the world were cancelled last minute with the surprise release of Everything Is Love, her first collaborative album with husband Jay-Z.

Released under the moniker The Carters, the album’s nine tracks (plus, one bonus non-album track), are, as the name suggests, built around the couple’s relationship. Where Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Jay-Z’s 4:44 detailed disputes and infidelity, Everything Is Love is a flex of romantic renewal and strength, interspersed with reflections on black experience.

For the album’s visuals — including the video for lead single ‘Apeshit’ — the couple rented out The Louvre, filling the halls with black dancers, a comment on how black bodies and artworks are both historically and continually locked out of art institutions unless they literally buy their way in.

Bey also spits a couple of verses that prove she can more than hold her own against one of the world’s most celebrated rappers.

It’s been little over than 24 hours since the album dropped, so while a few early reviews are in, the collective verdict’s still out. There is one thing that fans have readily agreed upon though.

Since the album’s exclusive to Tidal — the streaming service co-owned by Jay-Z — it seems like lots of fans are signing up for a free trial month. But given that previous exclusives include Lemonade, 4:44, Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo and Rihanna’s ANTi, it’s few people’s first time at the rodeo.

As we all collectively scam Tidal by signing up with alternate email accounts, we’re also all making the exact same joke.

As with most free trials, you have to enter a payment method when signing up, but fans are determined to not let the trial lapse into paid content.

Before the surprise drop, Tidal had a rough month. In May, the company defended itself from reports that it’d fudged streaming numbers by millions, calling the accusation a “smear campaign”.

Everything Is Love comes a month through Bey and J’s ‘On The Run II’ world tour. The album dropped the night of a London concert, with punters in the crowd being the first in the world to see the video for ‘Apeshit’. The tour’s not currently scheduled for Australia, though the Herald Sun reported back in April that the pair had “locked in” to visit our shores this Summer.

In the meantime, the scammers scam on.