Beyoncé's Rep Smacks Down Album Delay Rumors

Singer's team denies suggestions that she's having trouble deciding on the direction for her first new set of songs since 2011

By Josh Grossberg Jul 25, 2013 2:23 PMTags
BeyonceLarry Busacca/PW/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment

Rumors that Beyoncé is crazy behind schedule when it comes to putting out her next album have been greatly exaggerated.

The songstress' camp is shooting down a story in The Hollywood Reporter that surfaced Wednesday and quoted a source as saying that Beyoncé has shelved more than 50 songs she's been working on and decided to start over because she's unhappy with the direction of the record and has yet to find a theme.

Her rep confirms to E! News that Queen B has never scheduled a release date for the new material and that she's been busy recording the tracks while on the road for her Mrs. Carter World Tour.

So any chatter to the contrary is all a bunch of hooey.

What sparked the rep's denial was partly the report's suggestion that executives at her label, Columbia, have been growing increasingly jittery regarding Beyoncé's desire to work on the album while juggling the rigors of a global trek.

Especially since her last disc was 2011's 4, the production for which she oversaw on her own without label supervision and which is her lowest-selling album to date, having moved 1.4 million copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan. It also failed to score a top 10 hit.

Contrast that effort with 2008's I Am…Sasha Fierce, which sold 3 million and spawned the No. 1 hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and perhaps it's not surprising to hear the 31-year-old superstar is taking her sweet time with the follow-up given the pressure to deliver bigger sales as expectations soar.

Twitter

In the meantime, Jay-Z's missus is continuing her Mrs. Carter jaunt, making headlines just yesterday for showing support for the victims of the tragic Boston Marathon bombings by inviting three survivors backstage all of whom lost a leg in the attack. She also gave a concert in Los Angeles a few weeks ago attended by a bevy of celebrities including Kourtney Kardashian, who tweeted the above pic of her getting up close and personal with her fans.

Next up, Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia tonight; in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday; and several more East Coast dates before wrapping up the North American leg with a three-night stand in her home turf of New York at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on Aug. 3-5.

—Reporting by Alicia Quarles