“Move over, Taylor – Queen Bey is in the house!”: TIDAL servers crash after Beyoncé drops two new songs during Super Bowl
The songs were dropped as part of an ad campaign for US telecommunications brand Verizon.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 01: (Editorial Use Only) Beyoncé performs onstage during the “RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR” at SoFi Stadium on September 01, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood)
TIDAL servers struggled to cope after Beyonce dropped two new singles at the weekend, with fans reporting difficulty in signing up to the high-definition music platform.
During Sunday’s Super Bowl, Beyonce appeared in an advert for telecommunications company Verizon, in which she attempted a series of “firsts” in a bid to try and break the internet provider’s service. At the end of the advert, she ordered: “Drop the new music.”
Moments later, a video posted to her Instagram confirmed the release of a new country album, ACT II, which is set to drop on 29 March. She also debuted two new singles, TEXAS HOLD ‘EM and 16 CARRIAGES.
Beyonce’s bid to break the internet seemingly worked as far as TIDAL was concerned, with fans struggling to sign up for accounts. Members of The Atlantic‘s team tested this by trying to sign up and failing to do so, being met with a ‘504 Error Gateway’ message.
“Beyoncé – a genius at marketing – may have just won the night and the battle for attention with her Verizon Super Bowl commercial, new album announcement AND two new singles. All within an hour!” they remarked.
“Move over, Taylor? Queen Bey is in the house!”
In other TIDAL news, the company confirmed in December that over 10 per cent of its team was to be laid off over the coming months.
“The team is going to be smaller than we are today by the end of next year,” Jack Dorsey, CEO of TIDAL parent company Block, Inc. wrote in his notice to employees. The cuts will be determined “through performance management, scoping our work and restructuring to remove duplication and redundancy”.
“I believe it’s important to be upfront and transparent about all this, so you all can make your own decisions if you need to,” he expanded. “You may not be up for the uncertainty or shrinking our team, and want to leave. That’s perfectly reasonable. But I’d rather us provide the information than to work secretly in the dark.”
