Beyoncé is known for unconventionally sly album releases
(Picture: beyonce.com)Beyoncé is no stranger to an unorthodox album release. Ever since she dropped her eponymous album in 2013, breaking every rule in the business by not doing a single second of promotion, she has established herself as a creator that goes against the industry norm.
Her follow-up, the highly visual and eviscerating Lemonade, was also released in the same vein, and without a single leak.
So when fans realised on Saturday that Beyoncé had decided to soft launch the 2023 tour for her latest album Renaissance at a private art gala in California, perhaps it shouldn’t have come as such a shock.
There has been no official announcement made yet, but on October 22, a 2023 concert experience was raffled off at the fifth annual Wearable Art Gala – at which Beyoncé herself was in attendance.
Since dropping her seventh studio album Renaissance in July, fans have heard little from the star. In typical Beyoncé fashion, she has mysteriously disappeared, not releasing the highly anticipated visuals for any of the songs and doing very little promotion.
In photos shared by the attendees, the Renaissance concert package was valued at $20,000 (£18,000) and included first-class plane tickets, a three-night hotel stay, two Renaissance concert tickets, and a guided backstage tour by Tina Knowles-Lawson, Beyoncé’s mother.
The winning bidder was said to have paid between $45,000 and $50,000 for the ticket.
The art gala, which takes place in Santa Monica, California, was founded by Knowles-Lawson and her husband, Richard Lawson, to benefit the Where Art Can Occur Theatre’s youth programs.
The ceremony, which was sponsored by Amazon Music and Shea Moisture, also welcomed various actors and musicians such as honoree Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Kelly Rowland, Quinta Brunson and Michelle Williams.
