Yup, looks like all those rumours were true - Beyonce did in fact launch her album late last night.

Following an hour-long special on HBO that mixed high-art visuals, some pretty searing political imagery (the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown held up images of their dead sons) and more than a few nods to her personal life, Beyonce's sixth album went up online for streaming.

On Tidal. Yes, unfortunately.

The hated streaming service now has an exclusive on Lemonade and will continue to do so for an undetermined period of time. The album's already been described as a powerful mix of genres and styles, even going so far as to include a straight-up country music song. As well as this, the accompanying video and lyrics to a number of songs in the album also seem to directly address many long-held tabloid rumours about Jay Z's alleged infidelity.

The early word on the album is that it's Beyonce's most personal and political work to date, following on from Formation's highly-pointed lyrics and accompanying video. Needless to say, Twitter went more than a little berserk when it was announced.

 

 

 

Beyonce plays Croke Park on July 9th.

 

Via Twitter