Music’s most famous couple Beyonce and Jay-Z pulled a surprise by releasing a joint album, a long-rumored collaboration that celebrates their marital passion and black identity.
The pop diva and hip-hop superstar announced the album, Everything is Love, from the stage in London as they wrapped up the British leg that opened a global tour.
The album — which came two years after Beyonce revealed Jay-Z’s infidelity through lyrics — again offers plenty of tidbits into the lives of music’s most famous couple.
Here are some highlights:
No love child
Jay-Z shot down rumors that he has an illegitimate child. Aspiring rapper Rymir Satterthwaite has alleged for years that he is the superstar’s son due to his mother’s purported fling with the then little-known Shawn Carter in 1992.
Recovered from infidelity
Everything is Love, as the title implies, speaks much about the strength of their marriage after highly public troubles. Beyonce on her 2016 album Lemonade revealed infidelity by Jay-Z, who apologized a year later on his own album 4:44.
On the joint album’s boisterous closer “Lovehappy,” the two say that they have patched up.
Angry at legal action
Jay-Z vents frustration several times on the album about legal action against him. Most recently the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the rapper to testify as part of an investigation into his sale of his Rocawear clothing line.
On “Nice,” Jay-Z denounces the subpoena and suggests he is being targeted because he is a successful African American, wondering why he did not face such scrutiny in his earlier life as a Brooklyn drug dealer.
No to Super Bowl
Jay-Z appeared to confirm a report that he turned down an offer from the National Football League to perform at this year’s Super Bowl, the most-watched event on US television.
Jay-Z is an outspoken supporter of Colin Kaepernick, the now-unemployed quarterback who stirred a nationwide discussion by kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
He alludes to the racial imbalance in American football, where team owners are almost entirely white and players mostly African American.