Beyoncé's first solo album since 2016 is coming next month

Where were you when the B7 news was confirmed? Much like the day Blue Ivy was born, Beyoncé fans (and really, who isn’t one?) are sure to remember the moment on Wednesday night when a product listing for Renaissance—Beyoncé’s seventh solo album, her first since 2016—was posted to the artist’s website.

Rumors of a new album had been swirling the internet for months, and according to the listing, Renaissance: act i will be out on July 29th. The “ Renaissance box set includes a t-shirt, collectible case, CD, 28-page booklet, and mini poster.

Beyoncé first confirmed she was working on a new music back in 2021, (with little additional details) in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

“With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible. I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she said at the time. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”

Beyoncé also added the Renaissance album title and release date to her Instagram bio yesterday, after previously wiping her social media clean—these days, that’s a tell-tale sign that a new era is approaching. A bevy of streaming services have also hinted at the upcoming album via their social media. Hopefully, these hints also mean Renaissance won’t be a Tidal-exclusive like 2016's Lemonade was.

Since Lemonade’s release, Beyoncé has released a variety of collaborative projects. She worked with husband Jay-Z on 2018's Everything is Love, and released Homecoming, a live album and concert film chronicling her historic 2019 Coachella set. She was also heavily involved in the soundtrack to The Lion King and executive produced the companion compilation, The Lion King: The Gift.

In 2020, she released another companion to the film, Black Is King, and won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance in 2021 for the track “Black Parade,” cementing B as the female artist with the most Grammys to her name.

In line with past releases, no further information on the new album has been released besides a title and date. After six years, however? Any clues are more than enough to get the Bey Hive buzzing.