EVERYTHING IS LOVE

Everything Is Love (stylized in all caps) is a collaborative studio album by American recording artists Beyoncé and Jay-Z, credited jointly as The Carters. Unveiled at the final London performance of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's On the Run II Tour, it was released with no prior announcement or promotion on June 16, 2018, by Beyoncé's Parkwood Entertainment and Jay-Z's S.C Enterprises, distributed through Columbia Records and Roc Nation respectively. Initially exclusive to Tidal, a wider release followed two days later. The album features additional vocals by Quavo and Offset of Migos, Ty Dolla Sign and Pharrell, among others. The duo self-produced the album with a variety of collaborators, including Cool & Dre, Boi-1da and Pharrell.
Everything Is Love received rave reviews from critics. Commercially, it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with 123,000 album-equivalent units, of which 70,000 were pure album sales. The album is supported by lead single "Apeshit" and a Tidal-exclusive promotional single "Salud!".
Background and development
Plans about a joint album by the couple were announced by Jay-Z during an interview with The New York Times in 2017 when he said that they used "art almost like a therapy session" to create new music. However, since they also worked on their respective albums 4:44 and Lemonade, and Beyoncé's music progressed more rapidly, the project was temporarily stopped. Rumors about the collaborative project began emerging in March 2018 when the couple announced their On the Run II Tour.
Music and lyrics
Everything Is Love is mainly a hip hop album. The album contains lyrics about the couple's romantic love, lavish lifestyle, media worship, wealth, black pride and fame; themes that were found to be characteristic of the whole record. Other songs feature the pair singing about their family affairs as well as maintaining their relationship following hardships (i.e. infidelity).
Artwork
The artwork for the album is a still frame from the music video for "Apeshit". It features two of Beyoncé's background dancers at the Louvre—the female is seen doing the hair of the male dancer while standing in front of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
Release and promotion
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z embarked on the joint On the Run II Tour, a sequel to their 2014 On the Run Tour. At the end of their second show at London Stadium in London on June 16, 2018, Beyoncé announced to the crowd that the duo had a surprise before leaving the stage. Then, the music video for "Apeshit" played on the LED video screen onstage. Following the conclusion of the video, the words "ALBUM OUT NOW" came across the screen. Everything Is Love was subsequently released exclusively via Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal and all audience members received a free six-month trial subscription in order to be able to stream the album. The album was also made available for purchase on Tidal's online music store. The release was announced worldwide on the Beyoncé and Jay-Z's respective social media accounts with the artist of the album being monikered as the Carters. On the same day, the music video for the album's second track and lead single "Apeshit" was released on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. It was directed by Ricky Saiz and filmed at the Louvre in Paris.
On June 18, the album was made available across numerous other platforms, including iTunes Store, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, Napster, Google Play Music and Spotify. This is the first album by Beyoncé that was made available across all platforms since 4 (2011). However, Spotify made the album available exclusively to premium members until June 29, 2018.
Singles
"Apeshit" was released as the album's lead single on June 16, 2018 along with its accompanying music video, which was directed by Ricky Saiz and filmed at the Louvre in Paris in May 2018. Non-album song "Salud!" was released as a promotional single the same day.