Beyoncé and Jay-Z are going on a global stadium tour together again with On the Run 2, beginning June 6 in the U.K. through October 2 in Canada. (They hit the U.S. July to September.) That’s it, that’s the news. Now onto what lies beneath: What does it all mean???? To recap, Bey and Hov first went on tour together in 2014; this was after both his album Magna Carta Holy Grail and her self-titled surprise juggernaut. Though at the time they seemed like two kids still crazy in love (it was the first time they shared personal footage from their top-secret wedding, video of Beyoncé’s pregnancy with Blue Ivy, and other home movies), we now know everything wasn’t as blissful as it seemed. In the years since, they’ve both been open about their marital strife, releasing separate albums that addressed Jay-Z’s infidelity.
Divorce rumors dogged the couple for the duration of that tour, with Jay-Z later revealing that the speculation was not far from the truth. On 4:44 bonus track “MaNyfaCedGod,” he raps that they were fighting for their marriage throughout the tour, noting that the heartbreaking ballads that they would perform back-to-back represented their shared pain:
“On the Run, we took a hundred together / More than the money, it was the fact that we done it together / Uh, healing in real time / ‘Song Cry’ to ‘Resentment,’ that was real crying.”
Since the original On the Run, they’ve popped out twins, Hov has repeatedly repented, and he also let it spill that their long-rumored joint album does exist. Beyoncé is set to headline Coachella next month (her first live show since she performed pregnant at the 2017 Grammys) while Jay-Z only briefly toured 4:44 because of the newborns.
Will this new tour give us more real-time marriage counseling? A symbolic vow renewal? A collaborative album? All of the above?! Or is it just smoke and mirrors designed to drain our wallets? It’s a definite yes to at least one of those! But given the music choice for the announcement video is “I’m Still in Love,” you get the idea.