Beyoncé explains why she stopped making videos

From the moment she blew bubblegum in Crazy In Love to the day she destroyed a fleet of cars with a baseball bat in Hold Up, Beyoncé has created some of pop's most memorable music videos.

Her mastery of the medium matched that of Madonna and Michael Jackson in the 1980s - with the videos for her Lemonade album acting as a powerful celebration of black womanhood and female power.

Then, all of a sudden, she stopped. Her last two albums, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, have been bereft of visuals, leaving fans perplexed.

Now, Beyoncé has explained her decision in a rare interview with GQ magazine, saying she didn't want her videos to become a "distraction from the quality of the voice and the music".

Beyoncé says she thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice.

She explained that her recent records - which seek to contextualise black musicians' often overlooked contributions to genres like house, disco and country - needed to stand on their own.

The singer says the music is so rich in history and instrumentation that it takes months to digest, research, and understand.

She says the music needed space to breathe on its own.

Alipate Source: BBC