Beyoncé is at the top of the North American box office this morning, December 4, as with Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé coolly collected $21 million over the weekend (as per The Associated Press). The “masterful” movie, as reviewed by Uproxx’s Philip Cosores, somehow one-upped its supremely successful predecessors, Beyoncé’s 2022 Renaissance album and supporting Renaissance World Tour. It seems overly simplified to say that such domination happened because Beyoncé worked hard, but her mother, Tina Knowles, doesn’t agree.
Over the weekend, Knowles celebrated her daughter’s Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé release with several “Proud Mom” Instagram posts. And one of her captions hinted that Beyoncé might already be working on a new album.
“Last one about the Rotten Tomatoes!” Knowles captioned a screenshot of the 100% Rotten Tomatoes reviews of the concert movie. “Just saw this !! When you see how hard someone works and all the sacrifices they make because for the last month my child was in a studio almost 24 hours a day I was with her most of that time sleeping in the studio! She only went to take her kids to school to shower and come back.”
She continued, “There are only a few people that understand how hard she works ! how she works on every single thing that goes out in a movie or a video or a tour . #that is why I ride so hard for her !!! She deserves every [accolade] that she gets.”
Whether Beyoncé is actually preparing another album is anyone’s guess. Renaissance arrived in July 2022 as her first solo LP since April 2016’s Lemonade, a substantial gap.
It’s worth noting that Beyoncé initially billed Renaissance as a “three-act project” in a statement on her website around its release. She also shared that she had recorded it all “over three years during the pandemic,” so it would seem that she already has two more releases in the vault ready for release.
That said, a generational artist like Beyoncé never rests, so maybe she’s in the studio still tweaking the other two parts? Maybe she’s recording another album entirely? Or maybe she’s just wired to work on music around the clock regardless of if anyone else hears it? History would suggest Beyoncé will let us know what she wants us to know precisely when she wants us to know it, and not one second sooner.