Now that she’s done “breaking the Internet” with the surprise release of her visual album—still available exclusively on iTunes, where it’s already sold more than 500,000 copies—Beyoncé’s slowly turning back to the usual channels. She’s already announced that she’s pushing two singles this year—the hip-hop-infused “Drunk in Love” and the more retro pop throwback “Blow”—followed by “XO” in 2014.
The first video to come online is “Drunk in Love.” Directed by Hype Williams—long one of the most dependable music video directors working—the Jay Z-featuring video is actually one of the album’s simplest, mostly consisting of a sparkling Beyoncé dancing around on the beach, before being joined by her world-conquering husband. It’s not the album’s peak, musically or visually, but unconstrained by heavy choreography—Yoncé seems to mostly freestyle—it legitimately looks like they’re having fun.
Update, Dec. 16, 2013: The full video for album highlight “XO,” with a Coney Island-set video directed by Terry Richardson, is also now online. You can watch it below.
