# The Carters
**The Carters** are the collaborative alias of the married American musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z, billed as a duo for their 2018 joint album *[Everything Is Love](https://www.edgepedia.org/everything-is-love)* and the stadium tour that carried it.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) AllMusic lists the act as formed in 2002 in New York, NY, and classifies its style as contemporary R&B and contemporary rap.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) Although the two had appeared on each other's recordings for years, *Everything Is Love* was the first album credited to them as a unit, and it was Beyoncé's first joint album with anyone; Jay-Z had earlier released joint albums with [R. Kelly](https://www.edgepedia.org/r-kelly), *The Best of Both Worlds* (2002) and *Unfinished Business* (2004).[2](https://abcnews.com/amp/GMA/Culture/beyonce-jay-debut-carters-surprise-joint-album-love/story?id=55956310)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Members | Beyoncé and Jay-Z, billed as a duo[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) |
| Formation | Listed as 2002, New York, NY[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) |
| Album | *Everything Is Love*, surprise-released June 16, 2018 during the On the Run II Tour[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) |
| Album size | Nine songs, approximately 40 minutes (Apple Music lists 38 minutes)[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/beyonce-jay-z-release-everything-love-carters/) • [4](https://music.apple.com/us/album/everything-is-love/1400115721) |
| Release channel | Tidal exclusive, the streaming service in which Jay-Z and Beyoncé hold a controlling stake[5](https://www.thewrap.com/beyonce-jay-z-everything-is-love/) • [6](https://time.com/5316426/everything-is-love-beyonce-jay-z/) |
| Lead single | "APESHIT", with a six-minute video shot in the Louvre and directed by Ricky Saiz[7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf) |
| Awards | Grammy Award for urban contemporary album (2019); the "APESHIT" video won Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards[8](https://apnews.com/article/832043f07b62da92528f841542608248) • [7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf) |
## Everything Is Love
*Everything Is Love* arrived without advance notice. When the pair finished the fifth of their [London Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-stadium) concerts on June 16, 2018, fans watched the debut of the "Apeshit" video, a fresh track made alongside Quavo, Offset, and [Pharrell Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/pharrell-williams), while LCD screens told them, "ALBUM OUT NOW."[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) The album then appeared on Tidal, the streaming platform in which Jay-Z and Beyoncé hold a controlling stake.[6](https://time.com/5316426/everything-is-love-beyonce-jay-z/) According to *Time*, the record was finished just a few hours before its release.[6](https://time.com/5316426/everything-is-love-beyonce-jay-z/)
Credited to the Carters, the album runs about 40 minutes across nine tracks, and Pharrell Williams, Offset, Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign, and David Andrew Sitek of TV on the Radio each contributed writing.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/beyonce-jay-z-release-everything-love-carters/) Its songs include "BOSS", "NICE", "713", and the closing "LOVEHAPPY", produced by Sitek, in which Beyoncé makes light of Jay-Z's past infidelity with the line "Yeah, you f----- up the first stone, we had to get remarried."[2](https://abcnews.com/amp/GMA/Culture/beyonce-jay-debut-carters-surprise-joint-album-love/story?id=55956310) Thematically, the record treats family and success, love and betrayal, with songs such as "BOSS" and "NICE" addressing financial empowerment and building generational wealth alongside the state of the marriage itself.[2](https://abcnews.com/amp/GMA/Culture/beyonce-jay-debut-carters-surprise-joint-album-love/story?id=55956310) • [9](https://www.wired.com/story/beyonce-jay-z-album-evolution/) Apple Music's editorial description places the sound closer to Beyoncé's 2016 album *Lemonade* than to Jay-Z's 2017 *4:44*, calling the record "a challenging, tense, and thoroughly catchy summertime romp in its own right."[4](https://music.apple.com/us/album/everything-is-love/1400115721)
## The APESHIT video
The "APESHIT" video, directed by Ricky Saiz, a designer for the streetwear brand Supreme, is a six-minute clip filmed in the Louvre in Paris, in which Beyoncé and Jay-Z with a troop of dancers take possession of the former royal palace and pose before its best-known works, including the [Mona Lisa](https://www.edgepedia.org/mona-lisa) and the [Venus de Milo](https://www.edgepedia.org/venus-de-milo).[7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf) • [3](https://www.grammy.com/news/beyonce-jay-z-release-everything-love-carters/) Specific shots include the couple standing on the Daru staircase before the winged Nike of Samothrace, Jay-Z rapping in front of [Théodore Géricault](https://www.edgepedia.org/theodore-gericault)'s *The Raft of the Medusa*, and Beyoncé and her dancers performing before Jacques-Louis David's *Coronation of Joséphine*.[7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf) The lyric "I can't believe we made it / This is what we're thankful for" frames the staging as a statement about the couple's arrival inside a bastion of European cultural power.[7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf)
The video spread quickly through social media after its release and gathered substantial critical commentary. It won Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 2018 [MTV Video Music Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/mtv-video-music-awards) and was nominated for Best Music Video at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in February 2019.[7](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf) *The New Yorker* noted that the Louvre staging revisited a 2014 private visit by the couple, whose photograph flanking the Mona Lisa had circulated widely at the time.[10](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-it-means-when-beyonce-and-jay-z-take-over-the-louvre)
## Place in the couple's trilogy
*Everything Is Love* is the unofficial close of a thematic trilogy about the couple's marriage. It began in 2016 with Beyoncé's *[Lemonade](https://www.edgepedia.org/lemonade-album)*, an album televised through an hour-long HBO broadcast, and continued with Jay-Z's 2017 *4:44*, on which he acknowledged his infidelity.[9](https://www.wired.com/story/beyonce-jay-z-album-evolution/) *The New Yorker* described the joint album as completing "a meditative trilogy about infidelity and forgiveness," contrasting its slick, triumphant tone with the introspection of the two earlier installments.[10](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-it-means-when-beyonce-and-jay-z-take-over-the-louvre) Jay-Z had told *The New York Times* the year before that he and his wife had been using art "almost like a therapy session."[6](https://time.com/5316426/everything-is-love-beyonce-jay-z/)
The album was released mid-tour. The [On the Run II Tour](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-the-run-ii-tour), the couple's second joint stadium tour, opened in Cardiff, Wales, in June 2018 and ran across Europe and North America; AllMusic describes it as one of the highest-grossing tours of the year.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925) • [11](https://time.com/5304506/rumi-sir-carter-beyonce-twins-photo-on-the-run-2-tour/) The couple had first toured stadiums together on the original [On the Run Tour](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-the-run-tour-beyonce-and-jay-z) in 2014, six weeks of sold-out North American dates.[5](https://www.thewrap.com/beyonce-jay-z-everything-is-love/)
## Recognition and later use of the name
At the 2019 [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards), *Everything Is Love* won the award for urban contemporary album.[8](https://apnews.com/article/832043f07b62da92528f841542608248) The Carters name later fronted [Tiffany & Co.](https://www.edgepedia.org/tiffany-and-co)'s "ABOUT LOVE" campaign, which was illuminated by the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, worn in a campaign for the first time in its history, and set against the backdrop of [Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-michel-basquiat)'s painting *Equals Pi* (1982).[12](https://press.tiffany.com/tiffany-co-introduces-the-about-love-campaign-starring-beyonce-and-jay-z/?pdf=18553)
## References
1. [The Carters — Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-carters-mn0003750925)
2. [Beyonce and Jay-Z debut The Carters with new surprise joint album 'Everything Is Love', ABC News](https://abcnews.com/amp/GMA/Culture/beyonce-jay-debut-carters-surprise-joint-album-love/story?id=55956310)
3. [Beyoncé & Jay-Z Release 'Everything Is Love' As The Carters, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/beyonce-jay-z-release-everything-love-carters/)
4. [EVERYTHING IS LOVE — Album by THE CARTERS, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/everything-is-love/1400115721)
5. [Beyonce and Jay-Z Announce 'Everything Is Love,' Tidal-Exclusive Joint Album, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/beyonce-jay-z-everything-is-love/)
6. [Beyoncé and Jay-Z Continue to Surprise on Joint Album Everything Is Love, Time](https://time.com/5316426/everything-is-love-beyonce-jay-z/)
7. [Dancing at the Museum: the APESHIT video, Stedelijk Studies](https://stedelijkstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stedelijk-Studies-8-Dancing-at-the-Museum-Plate.pdf)
8. [Beyoncé at the Grammys: A timeline of the most-awarded artist's historic run, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/832043f07b62da92528f841542608248)
9. [Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 'Everything Is Love' Marks a New Step in the Album's Evolution, WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/beyonce-jay-z-album-evolution/)
10. [The Power and Paradox of Beyoncé and Jay-Z Taking Over the Louvre, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-it-means-when-beyonce-and-jay-z-take-over-the-louvre)
11. [Actually, Those Aren't Beyoncé's Twins in That 'OTR II' Tour Picture, Time](https://time.com/5304506/rumi-sir-carter-beyonce-twins-photo-on-the-run-2-tour/)
12. [Tiffany & Co. Introduces the "ABOUT LOVE" Campaign Starring Beyoncé and JAY-Z, Tiffany & Co. press release](https://press.tiffany.com/tiffany-co-introduces-the-about-love-campaign-starring-beyonce-and-jay-z/?pdf=18553)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Musical duos, supergroups, and collaborative projects › Hip-hop and R&B duos*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license