On Thursday night, a collection of songs from both Beyoncé and SZA surfaced on Spotify and Apple Music, mysteriously labeled as new material. But where did it come from?
According to NBC News, the “new” Beyoncé tracks appeared under the artist name Queen Carter and under two album titles—Have Your Way and Back Up, Rewind. Both projects popped up on Spotify and Apple Music and featured a collection of “demos, previously released songs and unreleased tracks,” per NBC, which led fans to wonder if Beyoncé had dropped a pair of surprise albums. Under Queen Carter, there was a song titled “Control,” one called “Have Your Way,” a duet with Marc Nelson from the 1999 Best Man soundtrack, and songs from the 2002 Austin Powers soundtrack. The tracks were removed from both streaming services soon after.
The SZA tracks appeared on Spotify under the name Sister Solana and an album titled Comethru. “These are random scratches from 2015. Def not new new!” SZA wrote in an Instagram story in response, “But… creative? And Scary? Lol HEARD U THO… I SWEAR the new is coming.”
I assume those scratches were left on the cutting room floor for a reason, so it’s strange to have them surface now.
Because the internet never forgets, some of the Beyoncé songs that appeared are available on YouTube under the same Queen Carter title.
Beyoncé’s team has yet to comment. The president of SZA’s label Top Dawg Entertainment tweeted last night.