Beyonce delivers unexpected album Hey Violet Shipp out bass player
Beyoncé Knowles-carter dropped a surprise live album on Wednesday to coincide with the release of her new Netflix documentary.
Entitled Homecoming, the live album includes 40 tracks recorded during her headliner performance at 2018’s Coachella festival.
Beyoncé had been originally pencilled in to perform at the Californian festival in 2017 but was famously forced to pull out at the last minute when she fell pregnant with twins, which she described in the new doc as a “surprise”.
On giving birth to Sir and Rumi, she said: “My body went through more than I knew it could.”
Shot over eight months, the doc follows Beyoncé as she returns to the stage, after the birth of her twins, to become the first black woman to headline Coachella.
The film highlights the comprehensive preparation involved in creating her ground breaking performance, which included four months of band rehearsals followed by four months of dance rehearsals with over 150 musicians, dancers, and other creatives, all of whom were hand-picked by the artist herself.
“In the beginning, it was so many muscle spasms and just internally my body was not connected. My mind was not there. My mind wanted to be with my children,” she said of the experience in the new Netflix doc.
“What people don’t see is the sacrifice. I would dance and go off to the trailer and breastfeed the babies, and the days I could, I would bring the children.”
In juggling dual roles as both the director of her live performance and the film that captured the process of making it, Beyoncé said: “It was one of the hardest jobs I have taken on but I knew that I had to push myself and my team to go beyond great to legendary. We knew nothing like this was ever done on a festival level before and it needed to be iconic beyond compare.
“The performance was an homage to an important part of African American culture. It had to be true to those who know and entertaining and enlightening to those who needed to learn. In making the film and re-telling the story, the purpose remained the same.”
American pop punk band Hey Violet has confirmed that their bass player Iain Shipp has been axed from the band after a sexual assault allegation was made against him. It is being claimed that Shipp had admitted the allegation to two of his ex-girlfriends. But Shipp, who only joined the band in 2016, is strenuously denying the “disturbing allegations” that he assaulted the woman, which he described as “deeply upsetting and untrue”. Taking to Twitter to confirm his departure, Shipp (left) stated: “I’m no longer in Hey Violet. The decision was made without ill intent. I still love Rena, Nia, and Casey unconditionally.
“I can’t blame them for making the decision they did. I maintain my innocence in this matter and measures will be taken to prove so.”
Hey Violet, which was originally an all-female band when they formed in school back in 2008, described Shipp’s leaving the band as an “incredibly difficult time”.
In a statement on their official Twitter account, the band said: “We have reached out to both parties affected both personally and through our attorney in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the situation.
“We are continuing to investigate the matter, but with the current details provided, there is not enough information to prove or disprove the allegations presented.”
The band concluded: “We sincerely hope the allegations are untrue, but at this moment we feel it is best to continue on without Iain in the band. You are all like family to us and we hope you know that we’ve been taking this very seriously.”