In a new interview for the current GQ cover story, Beyoncé shared the reasoning behind her decision to intentionally not make music videos for her two latest albums, 2022’s Renaissance and 2024’s Cowboy Carter. Despite the 32-time Grammy winner making visual accompaniments for both of her previous albums, 2016’s Lemonade and 2013’s Beyoncé, she purposefully wanted the music to stand completely on its own for her last two projects, especially in the social media era where we are continuously besieged by images at all times.

“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” Beyoncé disclosed. “The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own. Sometimes a visual can be a distraction from the quality of the voice and the music. The music is enough. The fans from all over the world became the visual. We all got the visual on tour. We then got more visuals from my film.” (Entertainment Weekly)