Beyoncé turned 45 and gave the gift to everyone else
The B'Day 20th anniversary drop is here - 31 tracks, a posthumous Selena Quintanilla duet, vault songs nobody knew existed, and a Maluma collab that samples Celia Cruz. Meanwhile, Telluride just fired the first shot of Oscar season.
In brief
Beyoncé turned 45 and gave the gift to everyone else
September 4 belongs to Beyoncé in a way it never quite belongs to anyone else. Her birthday. The original B'Day release date - September 4, 2006. And now, twenty years later, she did it again: dropped a 31-track deluxe edition of that album at midnight with zero warning, zero promo cycle, zero countdown clock. Just the album, in your streaming app, ready to go. Classic Bey.
Variety confirmed the release and reported it includes previously unreleased vault recordings, remastered versions of the original tracks, Spanish-language material, and new full collaborations. Rolling Stone noted the album is now certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA, and ran a retrospective piece connecting B'Day's DNA - its percussive live instrumentation, its unrepentant attitude - to later Beyoncé records like Lemonade.
The headline everyone was screaming about by Friday afternoon: Tejano Nation and Hola both reported the stunning posthumous duet with Selena Quintanilla. "Irreemplazable (Como La Flor)" is a collaboration that few fans could have imagined happening more than three decades after the Tejano superstar's death, appearing on the newly released B'Day 20th Anniversary Edition. Selena, who died in 1995 at age 23, can be heard singing on the track thanks to previously released Selena vocals layered into Beyoncé's music. Selena Quintanilla's estate approved the duet. Quintanilla's brother, A.B. Quintanilla III, reacted to the release on Instagram.
The track itself is a careful construction. It combines Beyoncé's Spanish-language version of "Irreplaceable" with vocals from Selena Quintanilla's "Como La Flor." Beyoncé has been building toward this moment for almost 20 years. She originally released the Spanish-language Irreemplazable EP in 2007, during the B'Day era. She has previously spoken about the Tejano singer's influence on her, including the Spanish-language material connected to the B'Day era. This wasn't a random grab at someone's estate - it was a long-gestating tribute finally made real.
The Selena news moved so fast it almost buried everything else on the tracklist. The remastered reissue includes the previously unreleased songs "Creole," "Back Up," "Lost Yo Mind," and "Can I Watch You" featuring Pharrell Williams alongside the original tracks from 2006. Then there is "Cuerpo Tumbao (Get Me Bodied)" with Maluma, Beyoncé's first collaboration with the Colombian artist. The release notes that the song samples Celia Cruz's "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" and that Beyoncé has "long admired Cruz's pride in her African culture."
According to Music Times, the physical release got its own treatment too. Physical editions include a four-LP deluxe set pressed on 180-gram "Bayou Blue" vinyl, with a 60-page booklet and two art prints. That vinyl edition does not include "Cuerpo Tumbao" or "Irreemplazable (Como La Flor)." A standard two-LP version and a CD edition are also part of the rollout. So yes, the digital version is the one with the fireworks.
In a press release shared with Variety, Beyoncé reflected on the 20-year milestone of the album, which was originally released on September 4, 2006. "I wanted the album to be big, percussive, hard, up-tempo, and energized, and it was important to me that we used live instrumentation," she said. Beyoncé turns 45 today. She gave everyone else a present.
Meanwhile, 9,000 feet above sea level, Oscar season just started
While the Beyoncé drop ate the internet Friday, a quieter but equally consequential culture moment was unfolding in the Rocky Mountains. The Telluride Film Festival, the unofficial launch of the Oscar race in North America, kicked off its 53rd edition on Friday and runs through Monday.
Continuing a trend among film festivals this year, the 53rd Telluride Film Festival will apparently not be featuring any big major studio releases, and instead is revealing a heavily stacked indie lineup of world premieres, North American debuts, and at least eight films first seen on the Croisette in May.
The film everyone is talking about after day one: Elsinore. The world premiere stars Andrew Scott as the ill-fated Chariots of Fire actor Ian Charleson. Scott holds a skull as Hamlet in the film - Charleson famously performed Hamlet at London's National Theatre while living with AIDS. Variety's Owen Gleiberman called Elsinore an "art-house crowd-pleaser" that will play well on the festival circuit and beyond, writing that the film is "about the shock and trauma of the AIDS epidemic." Scott is currently sitting at No. 6 on Gold Derby's experts-only Best Actor leaderboard, but could see a surge as Elsinore continues its festival run at Toronto in the next week.
Also being introduced to the world in the Rockies: Jesse Eisenberg's A24 pic The Debut, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti; Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter; Guy Nattiv's The Liberation, with Carrie Coon; Tenzing, starring Genden Phuntsok as the Sherpa who, along with Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston), became the first to summit Mount Everest; and Alpha Gang, led by Chris Pine, Cate Blanchett, and Lea Seydoux.
Last year's Telluride festival screened five films that eventually became Best Picture nominees - which is why the industry watches this weekend like a hawk. Gold Derby's recap declared the Best Actor race officially on, with John Malkovich in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine as the other performance drawing early heat.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
