Beyoncé Recorded 80 Songs for Surprise Album

Beyonce recorded "about 80 songs" for her surprise album.

The 32-year-old singer released her self-titled record earlier this month following a year of hard work, and she admits she had a hard job of whittling the tracks down to a selected amount.

Speaking in her Part 3 Run 'N Gun video chat on YouTube, she said, "When I started picking the songs that I gravitated towards, because I recorded about 80 songs, it was the songs that were more effortless to me that stuck around." The album features a collaboration with her husband Jay Z - whom she shares two-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with - on the song "Drunk in Love," and she believes the track worked well because they just had fun: "I kind of free-styled the verse, and Jay went in and he started flowing out his verse. We just kinda had a party. It was so great, because it wasn't about any ego, we weren't trying to make a hit record. we were just having fun. and I think you can hear that in the record."

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Beyoncé: I Was Really Nervous About Releasing New Album

Beyonce was "really nervous" about the surprise release of her self-titled LP.

The "Drunk in Love" singer, who is celebrating selling more than one million copies of her fifth studio record, admits it was a "huge risk" releasing it without any prior promotion. She answered fans' questions via her Instagram account at the weekend at a screening for the record's accompanying music videos.

"I was terrified. I was so scared. I already envisioned like the worst things that could happen. Honestly, I was at a point where I felt like, you know, everything feels the same. That's how I felt and if I could not challenge that, then maybe it's time for me to do something else or develop more artists, which is something I want to do," she posted. "I just hope that I continue to move forward and challenge myself, and I think now that I've become a mother, I just want my legacy to inspire people."

Meanwhile, retailers such as Amazon and American company Target are refusing to stock Beyonce after it was released exclusively on iTunes. The digital giant were given a one week exclusive window to sell the 14-song, 17-video album, which features contributions from Drake, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake.

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Beyonce’s Album Smashes iTunes Record

Beyonce's surprise fifth album has become the fastest-selling record in iTunes history.

The self-titled record, which was released without any warning last week, shifting 828,773 copies in just three days. The majority of those sales came from America, where it has racked up 617,213 sales since Friday.

Beyonce's own first-week sales record was also broken, after her 2006 second record B'day sold 541,000 copies in seven days.

The "Love On Top" hitmaker stealth-released the record exclusively on iTunes, shocking fans by unveiling 14 new songs and 17 videos without any promotion.

The 31-year-old said she was inspired by Michael Jackson's Thriller video premiere in 1983, which is why she made such a "visual" record: "I miss that immersive experience. Now people only listen to a few seconds of a song on their iPods and they don't really invest in the whole experience. It's all about the single, and the hype. I felt like, I don't want anybody to get the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it's ready and from me to my fans."

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