Did fans get new albums from Beyoncé and SZA just before Christmas? Nope.
Two 10-track collections – titled Back Up, Rewind and Have Your Way, appeared online under the name Queen Carter, leading some fans to believe Beyoncé had done another surprise album drop.
At the same time, an album called Comethru from Sister Solána (SZA’s first name) debuted.
Turns out, neither artist released albums.
The Queen Carter “albums” are made up of previously released or bootlegged material. Among them are three unreleased Destiny’s Child songs that have circulated for a decade and tracks Beyoncé recorded for soundtracks to Austin Powers in Goldmember, Bad Boys II, and The Fighting Temptations.
any true Beyoncé fan would know immediately that anything with songs like "Crazy Feelings" and "Lost Yo Mind" can't be new #QueenCarter
— Mark Sundstrom (@106th) December 21, 2018
SZA took to Instagram to confirm she hasn’t put out a new album.
“These are random scratches from 2015,” she explained. “Def not new new! But... creative? And scary?”
Terrence Henderson (aka Punch) of Top Dawg Entertainment confirmed the SZA album was not legit. “There is no new SZA album out,” he tweeted. "Old songs were stolen and leaked. We are currently fixing the issue.”
All three albums have been removed from streaming services.