9 Things You Didn’t Realise About Beyoncé and JAY-Z’s Everything Is Love

After having completed the first leg of their On The Run II tour, Beyoncé and JAY-Z (or The Carters as they’re known together) just dropped the surprise new joint album EVERYTHING IS LOVE. The 9-track album, each track of which features both of the stars, is filled with new truths about their lives, their scandals, and their love – and we’ve collated some of the best bits.

WATCH JAY-Z & BEYONCE'S MUSIC VIDEO FOR 'APESH**T' BELOW!

THE AFFAIR SCANDAL

The affair is without a doubt an overarching theme on EVERYTHING IS LOVE, and the first verse ‘LOVEHAPPY’, has the two going back and forth discussing it. “Yeah, you f***ed up the first stone, we had to get remarried” Beyoncé raps, implying that he did indeed cheat on her and they had to renew their vows (which was shown in the imagery on the OTR II tour). 

She follows it up with “Lucky I ain’t kill you when I met that b”. Up until now the affair has always been referred to as alleged, and their lyrics have always approached it from the side, but this seems to completely confirm that it really did happen, and they really have moved past it.

The first and foremost theme of the album though is LOVE.

"You did some things to me // Boy you do some things to me // But love is deeper than your pain and I believe you can change"
If Lemonade was Beyoncé clapping back at Jay for the affair, and 4:44 was JAY-Z seeking atonement – this is them coming together to embrace all the love that they do have.

JAY-Z son accusations?

On the track 'Heard About Us', JAY-Z finally addresses the accusations made that he’s been hiding a secret son, supposedly the rapper Rymir Sattherthwaite. The family claim JAY-Z has been dodging taking a DNA test for over 8 years, but the case will be finally tried in court in December.

Jay cleverly addresses the whole debacle with a brilliant Michael Jackson reference:
“Billie Jean in his prime // for the thousand time, the kid ain’t mine”

The references and shout-outs are real

The album is choc-filled with references to other rappers, often interpolating their lyrics into their own bars. Here’s a few of our favourites:

He shouts out drill-rapper Chief Keef with the absolutely brilliant lyric “I’m a gorilla in a f***ing coupe, finna pull up in a zoo // I’m like Chief Keef meet Rafiki, who been Lion King to you?”. This is particulary pertinent given that the song itself samples Chief Keef’s track “Faneto”. 

Hov’s fantastic reference to Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ to assure the world he has no secret son.

On ‘713’ Beyoncé interpolates the hook JAY-Z wrote for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Still D.R.E” – its an homage to THEMSELVES! 

On ‘LOVEHAPPY’ Hov references Common’s lyrics verbatim “Y’all know how I met her, we broke up and got back together // To get her back, I had to sweat her”. In a world filled with mumble rappers who haven’t listend to Tupac, Hov respects the roots. 

The whole album has the The Carters showing what a powerhouse they’ve become, and the extended references across the musical sphere acts almost as a victory lap, taking them into the Hall Of Fame.

Bey don’t care that you want the album on Spotify.

"Cause my success can’t be quantified// If I gave two f****, two f**** about streaming numbers// Would’ve put 'Lemonade' up on Spotify// F*** you, f*** you"

Much talked about has been Beyonce’s decision to keep her most recent solo record Lemonade an exclusive on her husband's streaming service Tidal – which she’s finally addressed here and… well it speaks for itself. 

JAY-Z is bigger than the NFL

The track ‘APES**T’ has JAY-Z seem to reveal that he was actually asked to do the famous NFL halftime show in 2018, but, stating that he’s bigger than the role, rejected the offer: "I said no to the Super Bowl// You need me, I don't need you// Every night we in the end zone// Tell the NFL we in stadiums too". What. A. Flex.

And the Grammys…

Shortly later in the same song he comes for the Grammys: “Tell the Grammys f*** that 0 for 8 s*** // have you ever seen the crowd goin’ apes**t”. Given that Hov got 8 Grammy nominations but won none of them, this is him clapping back that it doesn’t truly matter to him, he doesn’t need it. 

They’ve had a whole host of collaborators working on it

On ‘APES**T’ alone: JAY-Z, Pharell, Quavo & Offset are the writers – and Pharell also produced it, sampling a Chief Keef beat.

Interestingly, Beyoncé’s verse on ‘APES**T’ has caused a lot of online suspicion as to if it was originally written for Migos, or was otherwise a Migos b-side that was reworked for the Carters. Not only do Quavo and Offset write on the song, but Beyoncé rapping lyrics like “Phillipe Patek, get off my dick” has got a lot of people thinking.

The full list of contributors to the album include Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Pharell Williams, Offset, Quavo, Dre, Mike Dean and Ty Dolla Sign. 

THEY RENTED THE WHOLE LOUVRE.

The whole internet has gone wild over seeing Bey & Jay take over the whole Louvre, with many wondering when they could have pulled this stunt and, even more so, how much must it have cost. Roughly, The Louvre is currently making a loss of 10 million dollars per year, so it may have actually worked in their favour to rent it out to The Carters for whatever huge sum they offered. 

Then there’s the question of the purpose of the music video: filling the largely white-art-filled Louvre with a cast of black talent acts as a critique of the overwhelming whiteness of it. We're sure there's soon to be a whole host of discussion around the video, but between that critique and presenting The Carters as a powerhouse force to be reckoned with, the focal point is clear.

Given Beyoncé’s lines on ‘NICE’ that reject her own album ever going on Spotify, we’re not so sure that EVERYTHING IS LOVE will make it over. There’s some hope given that JAY-Z’s 4:44 is on all streaming services, but in the meantime, you’re gonna have to check it out on TIDAL. 

So, instead, check out the best reactions to them dropping the surprise album over night right HERE.

UPDATE: The album is now available on all major streaming services! Looks like Beyoncé IS being nice, and everything IS love! 

Words By Alex Beach