Beyoncé: 'New album 4 inspired by Adele, Prince'

Beyoncé has revealed that she listened to a lot of Adele and Florence and the Machine when making her new album 4.

The 'Run The World (Girls)' star will release the record on June 27 in the UK and June 28 in the US, and has explained that a range of different artists influenced her songwriting when making it.

"I recorded over 60 songs for this album," she told Billboard magazine. "I have a lot of inspiration from '90s R&B. Also, Earth Wind & Fire. I listened to a lot of DeBarge, a lot of Lionel Richie and Teena Marie."

The singer-songwriter continued to list "Jackson 5, New Edition, Florence and the Machine, Adele and Prince" as further inspirations.

The 29-year-old also admitted that she is unable categorise the genre of her new record and that her main focus was on the vocal performance.

"I don't know what genre my album is. There really isn't a genre for it. But I wanted to focus on bridges and chord changes and chord progressions and melody. And also add my hip-hop influences, and keep some of the aggressive staccato melodies and singing as well.

"I really wanted to focus on my vocal performance. I gave myself a lot more freedom to really belt out some of the songs."

Beyoncé has also stated that she feels that she needs to push the boundaries of music.

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Listen to Beyoncé's new single 'Best Thing I Never Had' below: