Beyonce performed new track ‘XO’ for the first time on Friday night (December 13) – you can watch her performance by scrolling down the page and clicking play’.
The track is taken from the singer’s new self-titled LP, which was released unexpectedly online overnight on Friday. The US singer was not expected to release a follow up to her last album, ‘4’, until 2014, but surprised fans by releasing the ‘visual album’ exclusively on iTunes.
Before singing the new track during her concert at Chicago’s United Center, Beyonce told the crowd: “I’m gonna sing this song, which is a brand new song. It hasn’t even been out for 24 hours. I want to sing this to you all because it was written for you all. This is the first time. Something I’ll never forget.”
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‘Beyoncé’ is the former Destiny’s Child star’s fifth album and her first since ‘4’ was released in 2011. Every song on the album has also been given a video. ‘Grown Woman’, a promotional cut that Beyoncé performed during her Mrs. Carter world tour this year, is not featured on the album tracklisting but has a video, available through iTunes.
In addition to the guest verses, Chairlift singer Caroline Polachek tweeted to reveal that she wrote and produced ‘No Angel’ on the album. Sia is credited to ‘Pretty Lights’ while Miguel (‘Rocket’), Drake and Noah “40” Shebib (‘Mine’), Hit-Boy (‘Bey Reel’) and Frank Ocean (‘Superpower’), Ryan Tedder and The-Dream (‘XO’) as well as Justin Timberlake, Pharrell and Timbaland (‘Blow’) all feature on the star-studded album credits.
Speaking about the visual nature of the album, Beyoncé says: “I see music. It’s more than just what I hear. When I’m connected to something, I immediately see a visual or a series of images that are tied to a feeling or an emotion, a memory from my childhood, thoughts about life, my dreams or my fantasies. And they’re all connected to the music.”
The ‘Beyoncé’ tracklisting is:
‘Haunted’
‘Pretty Hurts’
‘Drunk in Love’ (Featuring Jay Z)
‘Blow/Cherry’
‘Yoncé/Partition’
‘Jealous’
‘Rocket’
‘Mine’ (Featuring Drake)
‘XO’
‘Flawless’ (Featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
‘Superpower’ (Featuring Frank Ocean)
‘Heaven’
‘Blue’ (Featuring Blue Ivy)
