After her Super Bowl performance, HBO documentary and sold out world tour, Beyonce has decided to remind us (or pretend) that she’s human too–by dressing like a trucker. The “Love on Top” diva has posted a series of photos on her Instagram account, showing her wearing a trucker hat (emblazoned with “BEYOND”) and a black jacket.
Beyonce appears to be in a junk yard, perhaps one in Brooklyn that Jay-Z purchased for the purpose of this shoot. Or, more likely, she’s on an expertly distressed sound stage with an added filter. Pretending you’re a normal person is an art, and Beyonce has again proved herself master.
Queen Bey also posted a new ad for her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which doubles as an ad for her Pepsi campaign. In the photo, Beyonce rocks Pepsi’s colors of blue and white, along with a platinum blonde hair color. The blonde hair and vamp poses definitely send the ad into bubblegum territory, recalling the Britney Spears Pepsi ads that ran in the early 2000s.
Despite the sugary look for the Pepsi ad, Beyonce is still all business behind the scenes. This week, her record label, Sony, sued a Swedish man for pirating the singer’s 2011 album, 4, before its release date. The album still sold 310,000 copies in its first week, but later sales did not match previous Beyonce albums.
Sony is claiming the leak impeded its marketing efforts, caused Beyonce’s reputation to suffer and strained relations between her management and the label. Sony seeks $233,000 in reparations for the leak.
The acknowledgement of tension between Sony and Beyonce is the most interesting tidbit in the legal papers. In her HBO documentary, Beyonce also hinted at strained conversations with record executives–but for very different reasons.
The singer wanted more control over her music and the freedom to experiment without the pressure of a necessarily commercial sound. In the documentary, Beyonce complained that “People don’t make albums anymore. They just try to sell a bunch of quick singles.” She explained that with 4 she took a more holistic approach because “people don’t even listen to a body of work anymore.”
She wanted to bring back the concept of the album, but implied that this approach unnerved record executives, who wanted a list of snappy singles like “Who Run the World (Girls).” With Sony now suing internet pirates for leaking the album, it seems they are merely looking for a scapegoat when an issue with the artist is actually the real problem.
In light of this lawsuit, it will be interesting to see how Sony supports (and protects) Beyonce’s upcoming release, which is also rumored to have a more traditional R&B sound. The album has yet to get a release date, but is expected at some point in 2013.
