Beyoncé is releasing a platinum edition of her surprise album

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Beyoncé is releasing a platinum edition of her surprise album

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4 November 2014

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After weekend rumors of a new Beyoncé album swirled, the singer announced a platinum edition box set with re-releases of her old songs and two bonus tracks. Beyoncé Platinum Edition is a four disc set that includes the original music videos and a concert performance, but it wasn't the full new surprise drop that fans wanted. Here's how fans were able to believe the rumor of a new album even with very little evidence:

Last winter in the middle of the night, Beyoncé broke the law of pop star album releases when she offered up her self-titled album into the world with no warning and zero publicity. Suddenly, Beyoncé appeared in iTunes with a music video for every song. There was no publicity tour beforehand and no regimented build up. By doing what she wanted, Beyoncé taught her audience not to trust her.

After that surprise, fans watch Beyoncé with a constant critical eye. If the woman could create a whole album and 17 videos without news leaking, what else could she do?

It's her past disruption of the status quo that made the rumors on Saturday all the more believable. A track list leaked from an unaffiliated Twitter account with an image that appeared to be a record company release for an upcoming album confirmation.

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The track list featured in the image included 11 new songs, and the list seemed to be validated when people found that two of the song titles were registered under Beyoncé's name withASCAP, the organization that dictates copyrights for songs. Fans itched in anticipation and rumors swirled. It was believable enough for fans to pay attention, and they were on high alert when, on Monday, a Beyoncé album appeared for purchase on Amazon UK.

But Beyoncé — not fans and certainly not rumors — controls her image carefully.

The package will include two CDs including one titled More that has two new songs, "7/11" and "Ring Off," as well as remixes from the album released last December. There will also be two DVDs in the set: one with the music videos that accompanied the album drop, and one with a performance video from the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. The set also includes a Beyoncé mini calendar for 2015, and is currently available for pre-sale on Amazon in Canada and the UK.

After the announcement from Beyoncé, the user who posted the tracklist in the first place, admitted it all was a scam:

However, the tweeted tracklist did include the two songs registered under Beyoncé's name with ASCAP, "DONK" and "Cherry." That means that Beyoncé could release those songs at any time, maybe on this album or maybe some time in the future. It's still possible the announcement of the platinum edition could be a diversion tactic to keep attention away from the Beyhive while they plan another midnight drop.

In all likelihood, Beyoncé hasn't created another full album in a single year while she has been on tour. But what's amazing about the platinum edition is that it showed how powerful Beyoncé is as a business woman. She can generate a massive amount of buzz over what is essentially a collector's edition of songs that fans already bought last December. Because fans don't trust her to play by the rules, it is easy to entertain the idea that the box set could contain a whole new album, and people will buy it to find out. Beyoncé is sneaky, but she's also brilliant.

Is Beyoncé unstoppable?

It looks like it.

Over the last couple of years, Beyoncé has done things that normal Americans can't do. She went to Cuba legally, lip-synced at President Obama's inauguration, created a new standard for Super Bowl half-time performances, and received MTV's Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 Video Music Awards, where she had, by far, the most astounding performance.

But the key to Beyoncé's success is that she keeps figuring out a way to surprise us and subvert the rules of being a celebrity and maintaining a music career.

Beyoncé released her most recent album, BEYONCÉ, on December 13, 2013, to everyone's surprise. Music releases today are built on leaks and perfectly scheduled publicity tours. This made Beyoncé's album even more astonishing — we didn't know it was coming, nothing leaked, and the songs were accompanied by 18 music videos. BEYONCÉ was something we had never seen before.

Unlike her previous albums, BEYONCÉ is a lot more sexually explicit. "I can't wait till I get home, so you can tear that cherry out," she sings on a track called "Blow." "He popped all my buttons and he ripped my blouse/He Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown," she purrs on the song "Partition."

When artists have a major hit like Beyoncé did with BEYONCÉ, they usually go on tour to promote the album. She isn't doing that. She didn't really perform the new songs on her Mrs. Carter tour (the album was released while she was wrapping up the tour's second North American leg). And while she is currently performing with her husband, Jay-Z, on their "On The Run" tour, the concert is built on promoting the couple's history and their relationship, rather than functioning as a typical solo promotional tour.

Beyoncé has made a career of adapting to and dominating the pop music scene. Right now, she's one of the two or maybe three performers who can sing and dance at a top level. But what's interesting is that there's a current push for more relatable, less perfect celebrities and pop acts.

Jennifer Lawrence trips, falls, and says awkward things a lot. Katy Perry hasn't learned how to dance. Rihanna's pop career directly references her messy relationship with Chris Brown. Jennifer Lopez, who is having a mild resurgence, has never been a strong singer. And Taylor Swift released a music video that highlights her lack of dancing ability.

Can Beyoncé, whose image is built on being perfect, survive in a pop culture climate in which being relatable is rapidly becoming a road to stardom? So far, that answer seems to be yes.