Beyonce has a new video

She appeared in a Coldplay video to whet the appetite: now, Beyonce has released the video for her new single, Formation.

It opens with a parental advisory warning and then segues to a shot of her half-submerged in the floodwaters of a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

The whole thing is set in New Orleans, where it was also shot. It is spliced with shots of a small child dancing in front of a row of inscrutable police men, the words “stop shooting us” spray-painted on a wall, alluding to anti-police protests in the States over the last year. She wears Victoriana costuming; she uses the line, “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag”, which has the hallmarks of a viral catchphrase.

Her four-year old daughter Blue Ivy dances in one scene, and later Beyonce might be nodding to the saccharine video for Blu Cantrell’s Breathe that everyone was obsessed with for a month in 2003. The video leaps from present day scenes to scenes shot in an old, grand mansion. There is an 80s dance scene, and there is a gothic funeral. There are quite a few car parks.

The single is available to stream and download exclusively through (her husband Jay Z’s music streaming site) Tidal.