Beyoncé
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The Louvre has dedicated a new art tour to Beyonce and Jay-Z after pop's biggest power couple shot the video for their latest hit in the Paris museum. The R'n'B stars' hit song "Apeshit" -- which used some of the museum's greatest masterpieces as backdrops -- has been viewed 56 million times on YouTube alone since it was released a fortnight ago.

Now the Louvre, which already has a tour based on the US rapper will.i.am's hit "Smile Mona Lisa", has created another based on the Carters' night in the museum.

It follows the video through 17 paintings and sculptures which feature in the six-minute clip, going from the monumental white Greek marble "Nike of Samothrace" to Marie Benoist's "Portrait of a Negress".

The choice of works which they used or posed in front of has been taken as a celebration of black bodies and empowerment in an institution which was built on the spoils of conquest and imperialism.

"Portrait of a Negress" was painted in 1800, six years after revolutionary France had abolished slavery in its Caribbean colonies only for Napoleon to reinstate it two years later.

But perhaps the most striking image is of Beyonce at the centre of a line of black dancers in front of David's "The Coronation of Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine" singing, "I can't believe we made it.."

Beyonce took some time off in Cannes, France on Sunday.

It's been a year since Jay Z released his thirteenth studio album, the critically acclaimed 4:44. In honor of its anniversary, producer No I.D., who picked up a producer of the year Grammy nomination for his work on the album, reflected on how it all came together and which beat on the album almost went to Beyoncé.

“Family Feud” (Featuring Beyoncé)

Scientifically to me, certain vibrational tones create a reaction, a feeling, an emotion, tension, joy or suspense. So that’s what I look for in music. Whether it’s musicians, sampling — whatever. And the The Clark Sisters just had this emotion already going. Just like joyous and pain and spiritual and I know part of Bey’s joy in music stems from that type of emotion.

And when I first did the music, of course I wanted her to be a part of the album and when she first heard the track, she was like, “Oh, no, no! I’m GETTING on that!” So she really kind of jumped in and did her part. And that song came in at the very end. Maybe about a week before the album came out. I didn’t really have to incorporate her. She’s a producer in her own right. She came in and wove herself right into it. Did an amazing job at completing the song to be honest.

Beyonce and Jay-Z performed during the On the Run II Tour at the Stadion Narodowy stadium in Warsaw, Poland on June 30. At the end of the concert, the flying stage malfunctioned and the singer had to use an emergency ladder to get down.

Beyonce was spotted arriving at an airport in Warsaw on June 30.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z rushed to a Charité, Germany, hospital last week after one of their twins had an emergency health issue.

On June 28 in Germany, the singer and her husband Jay-Z, 48, were spotted running to the ER with one of their 1-year-old twins.

"One of the twins was running a fever, and Beyoncé always freaks out when it comes to the health of her children," a source exclusively told Radar after the incident.

"The twin was treated and released. They are doing fine now."

Last month Beyonce was spotted twice partying in London - first at Harry's Bar on June 17, and then at The Arts Club on June 21.

Jay-Z and Beyonce released their joint album Everything is Love as a surprise on June 16th on their streaming service TIDAL, which was followed by a wide release two days later on all platforms.

For those looking for the physical edition of the album, here’s some good news: it hits stores July 6th! This edition will feature 9 songs as the 10th track ‘Salud!’ continues to be a non album exclusive on TIDAL.

Pre-order "Everything is Love" now!

Beyonce and Jay-Z performed during the On the Run II Tour at the Olympiastadion stadium in Berlin, Germany on June 28. The singer wore a new costume. She wrote after the show: "Berlin, it's been too long! Thank you for a great night!"

As Beyoncé and JAY-Z earn their first charted album as a duo, as Everything Is Love, billed as by The Carters, opens at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 123,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music, five tracks from the set debut on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Apes**t" debuts the highest of the bunch on the Hot 100, at No. 13. Sparked by its official video, the song arrives with 24.1 million U.S. streams in the tracking week, as well as 20,000 downloads sold.

The Carters' "Boss" debuts at No. 77 on the Hot 100, followed by "Summer" at No. 84, "Nice" at No. 95 and "Friends" at No. 99.

Beyoncé and JAY-Z have each tallied 59 and 97 solo entries on the Hot 100, respectively. The husband-and-wife luminaries have logged eight shared Hot 100 entries under their usual monikers (Beyoncé and JAY-Z), including the eight-week No. 1 "Crazy in Love" (credited to Beyoncé featuring JAY-Z) in 2003.

Everything Is Love concurrently debuts at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while "Apes**t" opens at No. 9 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Last night Beyonce and Jay-Z performed during the On the Run II Tour at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

The 2018 BET Awards took place Sunday at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. Beyonce was crowned the best female R&B/pop artist:

Best Female R&B / Pop Artist
Beyonce (WINNER)
SZA
H.E.R.
Rihanna
Kehlani

Congrats!

Last night Beyonce and Jay-Z performed during the On the Run II Tour at the Telia Parken stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The names Cool & Dre ring out across the hip-hop landscape for more reasons than one. If you're feeling nostalgic, their work on the Game's "Hate It or Love It" and Ja Rule's "New York" will get your blood flowing. If you're feeling contemporary, look no further than Fat Joe and Remy Ma's anthemic "All the Way Up," which dominated airwaves and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

They've been locked into the music game for more than a decade—but it still came as a surprise when credits on JAY-Z and Beyoncé's joint album Everything Is Love revealed the veteran production duo produced three out of nine tracks: "Summer," "713," and "Black Effect." They couldn't sound any more different: "Summer," with its deceptively lazy but thoroughly soulful pace, "713," with driving keys just south of in tune but hard enough that it doesn't matter, and "Black Effect," with its comparatively sparse beat and haunting background vocals. The Carters also released a bonus track, "Salud!" which Cool & Dre produced, and Dre laid down vocals for. As its name suggests, it sounds like a toast to victory.

As expected, Cool & Dre are floating on Cloud Nine now that their contributions to Everything Is Love have officially reached our ears. In an interview with Complex, the pair talked about their favorite moments creating with JAY and Bey, how easy it was to keep the collaboration a secret, and their status after producing for two of the most revered artists on the planet.

What have the past 48 hours been like for y’all?

Last night Beyonce and Jay-Z performed for the second time at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The singer wrote after the concert: "Two nights in Amsterdam complete! Thank you!"

In the gallery you'll find three photos from the photoshoot for the On the Run II tourbook.

Last night Beyonce and Jay-Z performed during the On the Run II Tour at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Again, Bey had two new outfits. After the concert, she wrote on Facebook: "Amsterdam, you're always so much fun! Can't wait to see more of your beautiful faces tonight!"

Nobody does a stadium show like Beyoncé. Back in 2016, when she was touring Lemonade, she took with her a 60-foot “monolith” to project mountainous videos at her audience – it was so big that some venues had to reduce the size of the audience in order to fit the stage. This time around, for her second On The Run tour with Jay-Z, the dynamic stage feels lighter – but it provides a number of “oh shit!” moments (not only when the couple end their show by dropping a new album, as they did on Saturday June 16 in London).

The stage is mainly constructed of two catwalks, which Bey and Jay use to perform independently of one another; at the end of the show, a giant bridge connects the two, floating over the audience as it does so. More impressive than this is the backdrop of the stage, which is dominated by two giant video screens (each of which, designer Ric Lipson tells me, is the size of “a London street”). At various points in the show, these screens split open, to reveal a four-storey structure, on which figures dance, play instruments, and sometimes create a silhouetted tableau. It’s reminiscent of the thrum of vibrant energy that Bey brought with her to this year’s Coachella performances, where she chose to perform in front of college-style bleachers packed with 120 dancers and instrumentalists, rather than the screens that usually dominate massive arena pop shows.

The show was brought to life by Stufish, a London-based entertainment architectural firm who also worked on the stage that was used for Beychella (as well as having a storied history producing shows for Lady Gaga, Queen, and U2). Dazed spoke to Stufish architect Ric Lipson about how the stage design reflected Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s narrative of forgiveness and reconciliation, why Beyoncé altered the design to accommodate a huge band, and how the show may change as it keeps travelling.

Where were you when the joint Beyoncé and JAY-Z album dropped?

Producer duo Cool & Dre won't forget the answer to the question on everybody's minds this weekend anytime soon. After all, they were right alongside the Carters on tour in London, having literally put finishing touches on Everything Is Love just a few hours before it arrived with no warning on Saturday evening (June 17).

But just because the album's release came down to the wire doesn't mean its creation was hasty: Marcello "Cool" Valenzo and Andre "Dre" Lyon describe the work ethic of hip-hop's perfectionist power couple as nothing short of fastidious -- no drum sound, sample or melody was spared their scrutiny. Below, Cool & Dre take Billboard behind the scenes of their Paris stadium sessions, Beyoncé's hands-on role in the writing process and just how much music they have left in the vault.

Beyoncé and JAY-Z work in mysterious ways. Were you surprised that the album came out when it did?

Dre: Nah, we knew what was going on. We were in London with them when the album dropped. JAY-Z and Beyonce are Golden State Warriors: they shoot half-court shorts, and it goes in. We spent three weeks in Paris recording, then we went to Cardiff for like a week. We got to London and knocked out two to three tracks 10 days of finishing up the album. An hour and a half before showtime, Bey and Jay were still cutting up vocals. Three hours later it was released to the world. There are no rules when it comes to those two.

When Beyoncé and Jay-Z's album Everything Is Love appeared suddenly on Tidal on Saturday night, a surprising name stood out on the credits list: veteran duo Cool & Dre co-produced three of the nine songs on the album, along with a bonus track. Cool & Dre were ubiquitous on much of the radio in the mid-2000s – see Ja Rule's "New York" and the Game's "Hate It or Love It," for starters – and enjoyed a recent renaissance as the team behind Fat Joe's "All the Way Up." The pair had never worked on a Jay-Z or Beyoncé album before, though. On Everything Is Love, they're responsible for "Summer," the album's soul-sampling opener; the radio-ready, Dr. Dre-interpolating "713"; and a pair of triumphant cuts that appear near the end of the LP, "Black Effect" and "Salud!" Cool & Dre co-produced more tracks than anyone on the album other than Beyoncé and Jay-Z themselves.

"We always joke with Jay: Working with them two is like working with the Golden State Warriors," Dre says. "We can just dribble the ball up the floor and look like geniuses." Rolling Stone spoke with the duo – Dre is by far the chattier of the two – about how they ended up on Everything Is Love, the recording sessions in Paris and Cardiff, and how Jay-Z and Beyoncé's talents pushed them to new creative heights.

How did you get involved in the album?
Dre: We've had a relationship with Jay-Z shit, for 15 years. OG Juan introduced me to Jay shortly after "Hate It or Love It" was ringing off. He told me back in the day: "'Hate It or Love It,' I get it, I gotta let that go. But 'New York,' you were supposed to hand deliver that to me. You gotta find a way to get to me." We've always had a cordial relationship with him. We never had the opportunity to get on one of his albums. You have to be right beside him. Jay has a thing, he'll text or email: "Stay close." That's advice you have to take literally. He'll record in two weeks and the album is done.