Beyoncé surprises with Morning Dew remix pack featuring a new verse from Jay Z

In the early hours of Wednesday, August 5, Beyoncé surprised her fans with the release of the Morning Dew (Donk) Remix Pack, a four part collection of new versions of her recent single. The announcement came through a post from her own record label Parkwood Entertainment, after which the so called Beyhive responded in full force. The package includes a Donk Mix, an acoustic version titled after its runtime of exactly four minutes and 44 seconds, a remix featuring Jay Z, and what appears to be a duplicate of that same Jay Z remix.

The standout piece of the package is the hip hop remix on which Jay Z, credited officially as JAŸZ with an umlaut above the Y, delivers a brand new verse. The rapper, who is also Beyoncé's husband, raps: "Top of the top, sloppy as a morning dew / the watch is vintage, I don't need nothing new / coming through Malibu in the old school." Guest verses from Jay Z are rare enough to be news in their own right, which gives the remix pack an added layer of significance.

The remix itself is energetic and full of chaos. The production samples Soulja Boy's "Donk" and the Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets," and also incorporates interpolations of Sheck Wes' "Mo Bamba." The original "Morning Dew (Donk)" was written by Beyoncé alongside Pharrell Williams, The Dream, and Darius Dixon, and produced by Pharrell and Beyoncé herself.

The single has a remarkable backstory. The track is said to have been recorded as far back as 2013, around the time of Beyoncé's surprise self titled album. A snippet surfaced as a leak in 2021, and a more complete version appeared online two years later, even going viral on TikTok. Beyoncé made it official around the Independence Day weekend of July 4, in part to put an end to years of leaks.

Commercially, "Morning Dew (Donk)" has already delivered strong results for Beyoncé. The song debuted at number 7 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, her first top 10 entry on that list in three years. On the Hot R&B Songs chart it went straight to number 3, while the Billboard Hot 100 saw it enter at number 26, marking her 61st top 40 hit.

The track will appear on a deluxe reissue celebrating the twentieth anniversary of B'Day, Beyoncé's second studio album. That album was released in September 2006 and immediately debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. It featured hits like "Irreplaceable," which closed out 2007 as the best performing song on the Hot 100, as well as "Beautiful Liar" with Shakira and "Deja Vu" with Jay Z. The anniversary edition therefore draws a clear line back to the beginning of Beyoncé's solo career, while Jay Z's involvement in the remix pack once again presents the two as a unified musical force.