“Everything Is Love” Lyrics Meaning

Yesterday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z surprised the world with the release of their joint album, Everything Is Love (officially by “The Carters,” which underscores just how committed they are to their relationship). The couple dropped the video for the song “APES**T” on Bey’s YouTube, but the rest of the nine-track LP is only available to stream on Tidal.

The notoriously private couple opened up about their relationship struggles during each of their previous solo albums, Lemonade and 4:44, but on Everything Is Love, they managed to dig even deeper. Here are some of the biggest revelations from the album’s lyrics.

1. “Summer”

On the first track on the album, Jay gets real about his childhood and how he’s creating a different life for his own children.

“I remember nights in the projects / Bullet rounds interrupting my Chi / When the worst thing that could happen / Zipped-up his jacket and ran back down the street / In Bel-Air only the nights get cold, I wrapped a yellow jacket around me / It’s not lost on me, music has my kids sound asleep.”

2. “APES**T”

The track that was released wide to the world contains some of the couple’s most brutally honest indictments of the entertainment industry. First, Jay addresses those rumors that he turned down the chance to perform at the Super Bowl earlier this year.

“I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don’t need you / Every night we in the end-zone / Tell the NFL we in stadiums, too.”

Jay also took on the Grammys, addressing the fact that his last album, 4:44, was nominated for eight awards (more than any other nominee), but won none of them.

“Tell the Grammys fuck that 0 for 8 shit / Have you ever seen the crowd goin’ apes**t?”

3. “Boss”

On “Boss,” Bey and Jay both take ownership of their massive success. Beyoncé sings:

“My great, great, grandchildren already rich / That’s a lot of brown children on your Forbes list.”

Later, Jay-Z raps:

“It’s disturbing what I gross (What I gross) / Survey says you not even close (Not even close) / Everybody’s bosses, to the time that pay for the office / To them invoices, separate the men from the boys / Over here we measure success by how many people successful next to you / Here we say you broke if everybody gets broke except for you / Boss!”

Fun fact: “Boss” is also the track that features Blue Ivy, giving a shout out to her younger siblings, Rumi and Sir.

4. “Nice” (feat. Pharrell Williams)

“Nice” sees Beyoncé letting everyone know once and for all that she has no regrets about her decision to keep Lemonade a Tidal exclusive (Tidal is owned, in part, by Jay-Z).

“Patiently waiting for my demise / Cause my success can’t be quantified / If I gave two f**ks, two f**ks about streaming numbers / Would have put Lemonade up on Spotify.”

Bey also takes a moment to acknowledge her own hype—and to confirm she’s even better than that.

“I ain’t never seen a ceiling in my whole life / That’s word to Blue / Freestyling live, blueprint from my Jigga who never bribes / I’m so n-i-i-ice / I’m everybody type, god damn right, I’m so nice, Jesus Christ / I’m better than the hype, I give you life.”

5. “713”

While both Carters have been open about their recent marital struggles in their music, Jay-Z seems to offer some rare insight into the couple’s early days in “713.”

“Had me sitting next to you on the plane/ And I knew straight away, the next time we would speak was like two years away / You had a man, you shut it down until you two had a break / I beg that dude rued the day.”

6. “Friends”

Bad news, Beyhive: Beyoncé has reached her friend quota and has no interest in expanding her circle.

“I don’t know what I would do without all of my crew, yeah / I ain’t making no room, yeah / I ain’t making no new friends / I don’t make no moves, yea, without telling my crew, yeah / That just how we do, yeah, that just how we do / Damn it, I love my life.”

Jay also talks about his inner circle on the song, specifically giving a shoutout to longtime friend Ty Ty Smith.

“I ain’t going to nobody for nothing when me and my wife beefing / I don’t care if the house on fire, I’m dying, n***a, I ain’t leaving / Ty Ty take care of my kids, after he done grieving / If y’all don’t understand that, we ain’t meant to be friends.”

7. “Heard About Us”

Jay formally denies rumors that he fathered rapper Rymir Satterthwaite on “Heard About Us.”

“Billie Jean in his prime, for the thousand time, the kid ain’t mine / Online they call me Dad, kiddingly / You’re not supposed to take this Dad thing literally / That’s too famous, we don’t even really do famous.”

8. “Black Effect”

On “Black Effect,” the Carters address police brutality and racial profiling. The chorus goes:

“Get your hands up high like a false arrest / Let me see em up high, this is not a test / Let me see em, this is not a test / Now hands where I can see them.”

9. “Love Happy”

“Love Happy” is the track that most directly tackles the Carters’ issues with infidelity—territory they’ve both covered before. This time, they give an update on the state of their union and how they’re working past the pain. Bey sings:

“You did some things to me, boy you do some things to me / But love is deeper than your pain and I believe you can change / Baby, the ups and downs are worth it, long way to go, but we’ll work it / We’re flawed but we’re still perfect for each other / Sometimes I thought we’d never see the light / Went through hell with heaven on our side / This beach ain’t always been no paradise But nightmares only last one night (Happy in love).”