“I have loved this record for years, now so happy that you guys get to hear,” Mama Tina wrote on Instagram. “It’s amazing.”
Many listeners in the comments were shocked.
“YEARSSSSSSSSSS?!?!?!” one commenter wrote, taken aback by how long its been since the record was completed.
Others saw it as Knowles flexing her proximity to Beyoncé — something most fans could only dream of: “Mama Tina always gotta rub it in our face that she get to kick it with Beyoncé,” another commenter wrote.
Of course, Bey already told us she completed all three acts when she released “Renaissance: Act I” in mid-2022.
During her social media rollout of the first album, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” crooner said that the project would consist of three parts recorded over three years.
The Beyhive pulled out the receipts
However, one line has fans in a tizzy and could indicate just how early the singer was planning her country comeback.
In “16 Carriages,” one of two songs released on Sunday, Beyoncé references different ages of her life.
“It’s been 38 summers, and I’m not in my bed/On the back of the bus and a bunk with the band/Goin’ so hard, now I miss my kids/Overworked and overwhelmed,” Bey sings over the slow, folksy tune.
Rather than record her albums in order, the “38 Summers” line could mean that Bey has been sitting on this country record for quite some time — perhaps four or five years.
Beyoncé’s 38th summer would have been in 2020 when she released the “Black is King” film. Some fans speculated she may have counted the previous summer — she turned 38 on September 4, 2019 — meaning that the song could have been recorded as early as 2019.
However, it could also mean that the song was written in advance and recorded later, or the line could be the singer reminiscing on a previous era of her life. Regardless, the Beyhive ran with it.
“Her eras are produced WELL in advance,” one user on X noted.
The Houston-born and-raised singer is not new to country music. Most notably, Bey released the song “Daddy Lessons” — an ode to her Texas upbringing — as a part of the “Lemonade” album in 2016.
She later performed the song during the Country Music Awards with The Chicks to conservative — and sometimes racist — backlash.
“Act II” seems to be a show of force that Bey will not back down.
Representatives for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to a request for comment.