Now this is a plot twist we never saw coming. For over a decade, R&B fans have been side-eyeing the internet, waiting on Beyoncé and Alicia Keys’ long-lost “Put It In a Love Song” music video to drop. Read what Mathew Knowles had to say about the unreleased video.
The Collab Fans Hoped For
With two powerhouse women, one Swizz Beatz production, and a Melina Matsoukas-directed video filmed in Rio de Janeiro, the 2009 collab was supposed to be a moment. After months of hype and leaked behind-the-scenes pics, the visual mysteriously vanished until now.
Why It Never Dropped
During a recent episode of Carlos King’s Reality with the King podcast, Beyoncé’s father and former manager, Mathew Knowles, finally revealed what really went down, and it sounds like something straight out of a movie.
“They were in the projects, hood, ghetto in Rio, and Sony Records hadn’t paid the gangsters,” Knowles told host Carlos King, leaving him visibly shocked. “They had to be helicoptered out of there. That’s really what happened.”
According to Knowles, the video was completed despite the chaos, but it was never released. Alicia Keys later gave her own version of events in a 2016 Rap Radar interview, saying the final product “just didn’t quite capture the energy that we really intended.” She added, “We felt like it was better to just hold it… maybe one day it’ll be like some old secret… I’ll put it on Tidal.”
And in case you were wondering why Carlos King didn’t ask for more details, he explained on X that Mathew agreed to one last question after they went over their allotted interview time.
“Of course I wasn’t expecting THAT answer. I had so many follow up questions but I shook his hand cause he gave me a cliffhanger.”
Mystery Solved
Now, with Knowles’ shocking revelation, fans are putting the pieces together. The video’s disappearance was not just a “creative decision.” What was meant to be an iconic moment in R&B history turned into one of music’s most mysterious vault stories.
The “Put It In a Love Song” video joins the ranks of legendary unreleased visuals fans still beg to see. Whether it’s collecting dust in a Sony vault or Alicia’s personal hard drive, the BeyHive and Alicia’s day-ones aren’t giving up hope anytime soon.
Catch the full tea on Reality with the King and revisit all the buzz surrounding the track here.
