Beyoncé announced a new visual album titled
Black Is King, her first solo album of original songs since 2016’s
Lemonade. Beyoncé wrote, directed, and executive-produced the project, which will be released via Disney+.
Black Is King will include the song “Black Parade,” which she released on Juneteenth.
Beyoncé curated the soundtrack
The Lion King: The Gift last year, which was released in conjunction with the CGI version of
The Lion King.
Black Is King is “based on” the music from
The Lion King: The Gift.
According to a release, the album “reimagines the lessons of
The Lion King for today’s young kings and queens in search of their own crowns.” It also is “a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience. The film is a story for the ages that informs and rebuilds the present. A reunion of cultures and shared generational beliefs. A story of how the people left most broken have an extraordinary gift and a purposeful future.”
Black Is King is scheduled for release on July 31. You can see a trailer for the visual album on Beyoncé’s website
here.