Should We Trust Rose IV You? A Beyoncé Mystery

If you open your Instagram app, close your eyes, and hold your phone up to your ear, you might hear a small buzzing sound. This is the sound of the Beyhive, curiously activated around a new IG account that has had us scratching our heads for the past week.

In less than a week, Rose IV You (@roseivyou) has amassed over 26k followers — despite only following Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Netflix, Tidal, and Kelly Rowland in return — and it’s growing by the minute as people both within and outside of the Beygency debate its legitimacy. After wrapping up her joint OTR II tour with Jay-Z, most fans expected Beyoncé to take at least a few months to herself before releasing any new content or campaigns. But if the rumors about Rose IV You are true, Bey has her foot on our necks once again, and we don’t even know why.

Attempts to get to the bottom of the page’s purpose — or figure out if we’re being trolled — have left us with more questions than answers. But before I provide a definitive conclusion as to whether or not fans should stay vigilant, let me give you some background.

Last Tuesday, the inaugural post appeared on the Rose IV You (@roseivyou) Instagram account. It was a simple black and white video of a rose blossoming. Playing over this clip are vocal snippets from none other than Beyoncé herself. This was followed up by an image of the Roman numerals ‘i.iv.’ The next day: an abstract picture of a rose, and another video, this time with the word ‘you’ perfectly looped to an unfamiliar melody. On Wednesday, the word ‘you’ appeared again and swiped into a video of a stone hallway with the same tune playing. On Thursday there is a silhouette of a woman who could definitely be Beyoncé holding a rose. Friday, we got the caption — ‘1.9.2.7’ — and a picture of another woman with an afro. Over the weekend and into this week, we got more abstract photos of Black women, at least a few of them appearing to be Bey herself.

Our most obvious hope was that Rose IV You is some sort of early promotion for B7, Bey's seventh solo studio album. Others speculated that the page is doing similar duty for a Netflix special or a collaboration with her former Destiny’s Child bandmate, Rowland. Others think that there is compelling evidence that this is the work of someone completely unaffiliated with Beyoncé at all. We have to consider both sides.

Let’s address the reasons for skepticism first. For starters, Rose IV You is not a verified account. Beyoncé is a grown woman who can do whatever she wants. That includes getting Instagram to verify the social media account of a project she’s working on. I find it suspicious that despite its quick growth and high visibility, Rose IV You still hasn’t secure a blue checkmark that shows it's a verified account. Additionally, a Twitter user discovered that the vocals posted on October 15 were isolated from Beyoncé's single “Grown Woman.” And the most damning piece of evidence is a post from The Fader which debunks the idea that this account is associated with Beyoncé at all. The outlet spoke to “a source close to Beyoncé” who insists that she is not associated with the page at all.

And while others may be using this as a nail in the coffin for the account, I’m not so sure. We serve a mysterious, but calculating queen. Before she dropped her Lemonade album, she posted a photo of herself sniffing a freshly picked lemon. In December of 2015, she made a cute little Christmastime post that featured her making a heart shape over her belly and holding up two fingers. A few months later she announced her pregnancy with twins. She posted a set of pink and blue earrings and sure enough, she gave birth to a girl and a boy. Bey loves to leave us subtle hints and clues. Rose IV You feels like one of them. A week before the page appeared, Kelly Rowland posted a video of herself singing unreleased music that included the line “rose petals at my feet.” That’s some coincidence.

However, the main reason that I am going to continue to follow Rose IV You is because I am still able to. The mystery account finally added a link to its bio on Tuesday. Roseivyou.com links directly back to beyonce.com. Here’s what else I know about Bey: She does not play around about her image or brand. This is the same woman who can have pictures of babies — or unflattering pics of herself — wiped from the internet. If it’s true that this account is the result of a random person with extra time on their hands, I would have expected for it to be taken down by now. It lives because Beyoncé allows it to live.

No shade to The Fader or its close source, but I don’t think we can afford to unfollow just yet.