Beyoncé has released two surprise albums in her career so far, but somehow her third still feels like a shocking move. On Wednesday, she released her Netflix documentary Homecoming, about her instantly iconic 2018 Coachella performance — and she also released the concert as a live album, also titled Homecoming, now streaming on all major platforms.
Beyoncé made her iconic Coachella performance into a live album. You can stream it right now.
Beyoncé dropped a surprise live album along with her Netflix documentary.
Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.
Beyoncé’s first surprise album came with her self-titled 2013 record, which innovated the idea of the surprise album drop. In 2018, she put a twist on the move by releasing Everything Is Love with her husband, Jay-Z. Now, she’s dropping Homecoming: The Live Album almost as a bonus treat to the world: We were all expecting the documentary, and now Queen Bey has graced us with an album, for she is beneficent and kind.
Homecoming is 40 tracks long, and in addition to the full Coachella concert set, it features three new bonus tracks: a new cover of Frankie Beverly & Maze’s “Before I Let Go” (also featured over the closing credits of the Netflix documentary), an updated version of Beyoncé’s 2013 “I Been On,” and a recording of her daughter Blue Ivy singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Beyoncé often makes her music exclusive to Tidal (in which she and Jay-Z have partial ownership) for the first week of its release or sometimes longer — Tidal has the streaming rights to her iconic 2016 Lemonade “in perpetuity.” However, as an extra gift, Homecoming is already streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms. You can listen to it right now.
