Beyonce’s Biggest Surprises Through the Years, From Her Pregnancies to Her Music

Credit: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images; Handout; VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images; Handout

Beyonce’s Biggest Surprises Through the Years, From Her Pregnancies to Her Music

The Beyhive likely never expected Beyoncé to become the reigning queen of surprises, but that she is. Since 2011, Queen Bey has been sending her dedicated legion of fans into overdrive with the many unexpected twists and turns in both her personal and professional lives. To date, she has surprise-announced four albums, two films and two pregnancies in ways that no one else could. It all started at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2011. When Beyoncé took the stage to perform her single “Love on Top,” the star-studded audience had no idea that she had something up her sleeve — or someone in her belly. At the end of the song, she dropped her microphone, unbuttoned her sparkly purple jacket and rubbed her stomach, revealing she was pregnant with her and husband Jay-Z’s first child. Two years later, the Grammy winner broke the internet when she basically invented the strategy of dropping a full album without any prior announcement. Her eponymous fifth record, which included the singles “XO” and “Drunk in Love,” shattered multiple records, and she similarly went on to surprise-release three more albums, most notably 2016’s Lemonade. Beyoncé took a page out of her own book in February 2017 when she shared the news of her second pregnancy, this time with twins. Her stunning Instagram announcement quickly became the social media platform’s most-liked post of all time, though Kylie Jenner’s first photo of daughter Stormi and advertising creative Chris Godfrey’s “World Record Egg” eventually surpassed it. The former Destiny’s Child member’s next surprise came in April 2019 in two forms: a Netflix concert film titled Homecoming and an accompanying live album documenting her 2018 Coachella performance. A year later, she dropped the Disney+ film Black Is King featuring music from her Lion King companion album, The Gift. Scroll down to take a look back at more of Beyoncé’s biggest surprises — so far!

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First Pregnancy

When Beyoncé told the world that she was pregnant with daughter Blue Ivy at the 2011 VMAs, she helped MTV score its highest ratings in history with 12.4 million viewers. Google later reported that “Beyoncé pregnant” was the website’s most-searched term that week.

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‘Beyoncé’ Album

The pop superstar’s critically acclaimed fifth effort, released in December 2013, was described as a “visual album.” Each song was accompanied by a short film on iTunes, where Beyoncé became the fastest-selling album in the digital store’s history.

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‘Lemonade’ Film and Album

Two months after releasing her song “Formation,” Beyoncé debuted her second visual album. The 65-minute Lemonade film aired on HBO in April 2016, with the audio dropping on the music streaming service Tidal at the same time. Lemonade was available to purchase via digital retailers the next day, and finally hit all streaming sites in April 2019 with the original demo of “Sorry” as a bonus track.

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Second Pregnancy

The Ivy Park cofounder sent Instagram users into a frenzy in February 2017 when she announced that she was expecting twins, whom she named Rumi and Sir. “We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over,” she captioned a photo of herself cradling her baby bump. “We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes.”

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‘Everything Is Love’ Album

Beyoncé and Jay-Z dropped their long-rumored joint album, Everything Is Love, after a concert in the U.K. in June 2018. They ended the show by premiering their “Apes--t” music video on London Stadium’s big screens, concluding with the words, “ALBUM OUT NOW.”

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‘Homecoming’ Film and Live Album

The entertainer documented her 2018 headlining gig at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in an April 2019 film. Homecoming: The Live Album was released at the same time as the documentary, with no prior announcement. It included two new tracks, including a cover of Maze’s “Before I Let Go.”

Credit: Kwaku Alston for Disney Studios

‘The Lion King: The Gift’ Album

Disney delighted Beyoncé fans in July 2019 when it announced that she curated and executive produced The Lion King: The Gift, an album that pays tribute to “the iconic film and bring[s] the authentic sounds of African music to the world.” The singer (who voices Nala in the remake) released the first single, “Spirit,” on the night of the movie’s Los Angeles premiere. “This is sonic cinema,” she said in a press release. “This is a new experience of storytelling. I wanted to do more than find a collection of songs that were inspired by the film. It is a mixture of genres and collaboration that isn’t one sound. It is influenced by everything from R&B, pop, hip-hop and Afro Beat.”

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‘Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift’ Special

In September 2019, the multihyphenate announced an ABC special titled Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift that fans had no idea was even in the works. The hourlong documentary featured behind-the-scenes footage and candid interviews about the making of her Lion King companion album.

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“Black Parade” Song

Beyoncé dropped a standalone single titled “Black Parade” in June 2020 in honor of Juneteenth. All proceeds from the song — which was released on the heels of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans’ deaths in police custody — went to BeyGOOD’s Black Business Impact Fund.

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‘Black Is King’ Film

One week after releasing “Black Parade,” the superstar surprised fans yet again by announcing her Disney+ visual album, Black Is King, based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift. The 85-minute film premiered on July 31, 2020, with cameos from Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell, Blue Ivy, Rumi, Sir and more.

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She’s the Most Decorated Female Grammy Winner

After fan speculation that the Dreamgirls star and her rapper-husband would skip the 2021 Grammys, the pair ended up attending the socially distanced awards. The “Crazy in Love” vocalist racked up an impressive number of trophies during the award show, making her the most decorated female musician in Grammy history after earning her 28th win.

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Modeling With Her Babies

The former Destiny’s Child singer was joined by her three children — Blue Ivy, Sir and Rumi — to launch her Ivy Park x Adidas Rodeo collection. Beyoncé and Blue twinned in purple hoodies and cow-print leggings in one shot, while the twins sported blue sweatshirts in another snap.