Songfacts®:

• This is the lead single from Everything Is Love, the first joint album released by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. They have previously collaborated on a dozen or so tracks, including such hit singles as "'03 Bonnie And Clyde," "Crazy In Love" and "Drunk In Love." The two superstars are jointly credited under their married name of The Carters.
• Rumors about a Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborative album have long swirled and Everything Is Love was surprise released as hip-hop's royal couple played the second and final show of their UK tour at the London Stadium on June 16, 2018. "Because we love you all so much we have something special for you," Beyoncé told the audience. The video for this song was then played, ending with the words "ALBUM OUT NOW" flashed up on the screen.
• Written and produced by Pharrell Williams and The Carters, this song finds Jay-Z and Beyoncé boasting about their successes but also proclaiming their undying devotion to each other.
• Before the NFL confirmed that Justin Timberlake would be performing at the 2018 Super Bowl halftime show, there were reports that Jay-Z had rejected an offer to perform. Hova confirms the rumors during his verse as he dismisses the importance of the NFL halftime performance.
  
  I said no to the Super Bowl
  You need me, I don't need you
  Every night we in the endzone
  Tell the NFL we in stadiums too
  
  Hova concludes his verse by taking aim at the 2018 Grammy Awards, where he didn't notch a victory in any of the eight categories he was nominated for.
• The song features additional ad-lib vocals vocals by Quavo and Offset from hip-hop group Migos. Though this was Beyoncé and Jay-Z's first collaboration with the Atlanta pair, Migos previously linked up with Pharrell on their 2017 single "Stir Fry."
• The six-minute-long opulent video, directed by Ricky Saiz, was filmed in Paris' Louvre in May 2018. Saiz previously worked with Beyoncé on the visual for the Yoncé section of her 2013 song "Yoncé/Partition."
  
  The clip opens with Quavo wearing wings and crouching in prayer as bells and sirens are prominent in the background. Throughout the clip, Jay-Z and Beyoncé are seen posing in front of some of the most prestigious artwork in history, including the Mona Lisa painting and the Venus de Milo statue. We also see a number of the Louvre's other iconic neoclassical paintings, such as Veronese's The Wedding Feast at Cana, Théodore Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa and Jacques-Louis David's Madame Recamier.
  
  Jay-Z previously spat wisdom about his exquisite taste in fine art on his 2013 song "Picasso Baby."
• The song was originally going to be a Migos record and was recorded by Quavo and Pharrell right after they came up with "Stir Fry." Quavo told Pharrell he was going to use their "Stir Fry" demo for Culture II, but forgot about "Ape---t" until the beatmaker called the Migos rhymer to say that Jay-Z and Beyoncé wanted to use it.