Who Is Boots? Beyoncé’s Mystery Producer Just Debuted In A Big Way

When Beyoncé released her new self-titled album late last week with 17 new music videos from the get-go and zero promotional fanfare before the fact, people went a little nuts. As of last night, the album has sold over 430,000 copies — barely a day since its release — and that skyrocketing rise is clearly not tapering off anytime soon. Heck, she might even overtake Taylor Swift's Red.

Now that fans have had a chance to dig into the meat of the singer's fifth studio album, one question has repeatedly been raised: Who is Boots? Among the album's expected big names — Pharrell, The-Dream, and Timbaland — appears this little-known producer (and frequently so).

Buzzfeed's Myles Tanzer did some digging and found that Boots is something of a ghost. He had, at the time of Tanzer's post, fewer than 200 Facebook fans, and his page on Jay Z's Roc Nation, where he apparently was signed over the summer, is virtually empty. Boots produced music for eyewear brand Shauns, which is featured in a video starring model Chanel Iman, and his SoundCloud account allegedly included a 50-minute album full of tracks related to Beyoncé, though it was removed last night.

The most definitive source so far on Boots' collaboration with Beyoncé was a Tweet from Designed Memory, part of the singer's creative team. According to the Tweet, Boots "wrote 4 songs and co-produced 80% of the album."

As the buzz from Beyoncé invariably crescendoes into a roar, we expect to hear even more from, and about, Boots. All that Beyoncé fans can do in the meantime is say "thank you."

Read more about this mysterious character over on Buzzfeed — it's pretty fascinating.