Beyonce stars on British Vogue cover hours after album announcement

Beyonce has been announced as British Vogue’s July cover star just hours after she announced that she is set to release her seventh studio album.

The “Lemonade” singer revealed on Thursday that her next album would be called Renaissance, and that it will drop on 29 July.

On the cover, the 40-year-old singer wears a full length Alaia dress with a feathered headpiece by Harris Reed and Vivienne H Lake.

In a piece written by British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, who sat down with the songstress, he said that a “thrilling abundance” of new music would be released, and that the six-year hiatus between albums was partly to do with the pandemic.

“The creation has been a long process, she explains, with the pandemic giving her far longer to spend thinking and rethinking every decision. Just the way she likes it,” Enninful said.

“Beyonce Knowles-Carter, a writer of excellent and lengthy texts, had taken to messaging me as we brainstormed the direction of her Vogue shoot together. A fashion fantasia spun from the tropes of club life during the last century’s final quarter.”

The cover and album announcements come days after the singer wiped her social media profile photos, which caused fans to speculate that new music would be on the way.

While the profile photos remain blank, Beyonce has shared several images from her British Vogue shoot, including one of her on a motorcycle and another of her clad in gold Schiaparelli Haute Couture.

In one of the looks, Beyonce wears all Harris Reed, the 26-year-old British-American fashion designer who is championing gender fluidity in fashion.

In the image the singer sits on a glistening disco ball and wears platform boots, shimmering leggings and a corseted dress.

The full story from British Vogue will be on newsstands on Tuesday 21 June.