"Everything is Love" is the first collaborative album by Beyoncé and Jay-Z, under the name "The Carters". The album was surprise-released on June 16, 2018, only ten days after the pair embarked on the On the Run II Tour. It features additional vocalists, including Pharrell Williams, Quavo, Offset (both from Migos), and Ty Dolla Sign, among others. The hip hop and R&B album explores themes of romantic love, fame, wealth, and black pride.
Background and recording[]
Plans about a joint album by the couple were announced by Jay-Z during an interview with The New York Times in 2017 when he said that they used "art almost like a therapy session" to create new music. However, since they also worked on their respective albums 4:44 and Lemonade, and Beyoncé's music progressed more rapidly, the project was temporarily stopped. Rumors about the collaborative project began emerging in March 2018 when the couple announced their On the Run II Tour.
The majority of the album was recorded at U Arena in Paris, "FRIENDS", "BLACK EFFECT" and "SALUD!" were recorded at Kingslanding Studios West in Los Angeles, while further recording for "SUMMER" and "NICE" was done at The Church Studios in London. Beyoncé and Jay-Z co-produced all of the songs on the album themselves, with further producers including Pharrell, Cool & Dre, Boi-1da, Jahaan Sweet, David Andrew Sitek, D'Mile, El Michels, Fred Ball, Illmind, MeLo-X, Mike Dean and Nav.
Release and promotion[]
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z embarked on the joint On the Run II Tour, a sequel to their 2014 On the Run Tour. At the end of their second show at London Stadium in London on June 16, 2018, Beyoncé announced to the crowd that the duo had a surprise before leaving the stage. Then, the music video for "APESHIT" played on the LED video screen onstage. Following the conclusion of the video, the words "ALBUM OUT NOW" came across the screen. Everything Is Love was subsequently released exclusively via Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal and all audience members received a free six-month trial subscription in order to be able to stream the album. The album was also made available for purchase on Tidal's online music store. The release was announced worldwide on Beyoncé and Jay-Z's respective social media accounts with the artist of the album being monikered as the Carters. On the same day, the music video for the album's second track and lead single, "APESHIT", was released on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. It was directed by Ricky Saiz and filmed at the Louvre in Paris. On June 18, the album was made available across numerous other platforms.
Critical reception[]
Everything is Love was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 22 reviews.
Reviewing the album for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli said it "completes the Knowles-Carter conceptual trilogy"—referring to the previous releases of Lemonade and 4:44—"in an expert, tactical showing of family brand management". Music critic Nicholas Hautman of Us Weekly wrote: "It's clear from the very first listen that Beyoncé outshines her husband on much of the record, which really should have been marketed as 'Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z' rather than 'Beyoncé and Jay-Z' (or 'the Carters', in this case). His verses are few and far between in comparison to hers, but it still somehow feels like a balanced body of work from two of the greatest artists of our time." For Variety, Jim Aswad described it as "solid and generally satisfying, but not the best from either."
Commercial performance[]
Everything is Love debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 123,000 album-equivalent units, (including 70,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week. The album debuted on the chart after less than six full days of activity on Tidal, and four days of activity on all other digital retailers and streaming services. In its second week, the album dropped to number four on the chart, earning an additional 59,000 units. In its third week, the album dropped to number eight on the chart, earning 33,000 more units. In its fourth week, the album remained at number eight on the chart, earning 29,000 units. In 2018, Everything is Love was ranked as the 70th-best-performing album of the year on the Billboard 200. On January 14, 2019, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States.
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Summer" | 4:45 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Apeshit" | 4:24 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Boss" | 4:04 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Nice" (featuring Pharrell Williams) | 3:53 | ||||||||
| 5. | "713" | 3:13 | ||||||||
| 6. | "Friends" | 5:44 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Heard About Us" | 3:10 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Black Effect" | 5:15 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Lovehappy" | 3:49 | ||||||||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Salud!" | |||||||||