From Beyoncé to Lana Del Rey – How 5 Popstars Reacted to Their Music Being Leaked

It’s 2017 and, in the age of streaming and the cloud, music leaks have become an all too common occurrence.

Popstars spend countless hours working on singles and albums, only to have ‘fans’ or internet trolls leak them in advance – sometimes when they're complete before their official releases, other times when they're not ready and still in demo form.

How popstars react to this varies. Some artists take the leaks in their stride and are eager to find out what their fans think of their new music. Others are understandably hurt by it and make sure to make their frustration and disappointment known.

Here we look back on five times that popstars had their music leaked and how they reacted to it.

1. Beyoncé

Yes - even King B has had to deal with leaks. After the release of I Am... Sasha Fierce, the global songstress took a year off to spend time with her family, enjoy her success and self-reflect. She also began to experiment musically and work on her next album: 4. However, just as Beyoncé was preparing to release 4, it leaked three weeks early.

Beyoncé responded well to the leak at the time, sending out this statement to MTV: "My music was leaked and while this is not how I wanted to present my new songs, I appreciate the positive response from my fans. When I record music I always think about my fans singing every note and dancing to every beat. I make music to make people happy and I appreciate that everyone has been so anxious to hear my new songs."

How much the leak affected the album's overall success is unkown. Nevertheless, Beyoncé completely changed her release strategy for her next album. BEYONCÉ was a surprise release and not only did it boast Beyoncé's best first week sales to date, it also changed the industry. Many other popstars opted for surprise releases in its wake. Beyoncé even did it again with Lemonade and it seems to be working for her; she hasn't had to deal with any leaks since 2011.

2. Madonna

Not even the Queen of Pop is safe. MDNA leaked a week before its release and a whole hoard of demos for Madonna's latest album Rebel Heart were leaked online before it was even finished. As a result, Madonna released six of Rebel Heart's finished tracks immediately and scheduled the album's realse for three months later.

The Hung Up star dealt with the leaks efficiently but she made it clear that she wasn't happy about them. The superstar took to Instagram to refer to them as 'artistic rape' and 'terrorism'. While many people sympathised with Madonna, she also offended many with this comparison. It appeared to make light of both rape and terrorism and after the backlash Madonna deleted the post.

While Rebel Heart, went on to receive lots of positive reviews, Madonna expressed multiple times in interviews that she had plenty of plans for it that she didn't have time to put into action because of the leaks. Kanye West was going to executive produce it and it was going to be a double album. Hopefully Madonna won't face leaks again and she'll have time to release and present her next album as she plans to.

3.Marina and the Diamonds

After going more mainstream with her second album Electra Heart, Marina went back to her more alt-pop roots on her next album FROOT. What's more, she gave it its own unique release schedule called 'Froot of the Month'. Six months before the album's scheduled release she started to put out a song from the album every month along with its own fruit themed merch. She tweeted: "I came up with the 'Froot of the Month' strategy to enable me to release the music I wanted to, as opposed to what might work commercially."

However, just a couple months into 'Froot of the Month', the album leaked and many eager fans took the opportunity to listen to it. This didn't upset Marina though. As a fan of music herself she understood that many fans wouldn't be able to withstand the temptation of listening to her new tracks. "If you can't wait, that's okay" she tweeted. What a cutie. She then released the album a month early and it went Top 10 in the UK and the US. Not too shabby at all.

4. Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga promoted the lead single of her third album (fourth if you separate The Fame and The Fame Monster) with reverse psychology. Gaga was one of the biggest popstars in the world in 2013 but the media had started to turn on her wacky ideas and outfits and the press were waiting to document her downfall. Well aware of this, the Bad Romance singer released a video teasing a short snippet of 'Applause' and telling fans not to buy, listen to or dance to it.

It all seemed to be part of an extremely well planned era but soon after its release the single leaked and Gaga was forced to push the release of 'Applause'. Taking to Twitter she summoned all of her little monsters and declared: "A POP MUSIC EMERGENCY IS UNDERWAY 911". She made 'Applause' available to purchase that day and it went head to head with Katy Perry's 'Roar'. 'Applause' failed to reach number one like Gaga's previous singles but it still managed to go triple platinum in the US so we doubt she lost any sleep over it.

5. Lana Del Rey

https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/887557312956686337

The latest star to be plagued by leaks is none other than Lana Del Rey. The 'Video Games' hitmaker's fourth album Lust for Life was leaked just a couple days ahead of its release this Friday. And the singer wasn't best pleased. After a fan revealed news of the leak on Twitter, Lana replied 'U little f***ers'. Nevertheless fans of Lana know that the singer is tongue and cheek with these sorts of responses. When a fan complained on YouTube that Lana was taking forever to release her Tropico film, Lana replied: "It's coming you little bitch".

Since the hilarious tweet fans of Lana have even gone on to joke that they now "finally have [their] own fandom name". And as the album is out this Friday, we're pretty the sure that the leak won't affect its sales. Lust for Life features collaborations with artists ranging from The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky to Stevie Nicks and Sean Ono Lennon, and it is already being heradled as one of Lana's best. We can't wait to hear it when it comes out tomorrow!

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WATCH MADONNA'S 'SECRET' VIDEO HERE!