“It was like some top-secret files,” Mr. Vegas told DJ Vlad in a recent interview, recalling what it was like to be called in to work with Beyoncé. “We had to go to code and all kinds of things to get certain agreements — confidentiality agreements.”
The collaboration in question was a remix of Standing on the Sun, crafted to give Beyoncé an authentic dancehall edge. Vegas brought the project to Jamaica, linking up with veteran producer Danny Browne, the man behind his own hit Heads High. Other contributors added their touches to shape what Beyoncé reportedly wanted to be “an authentic dance song.”
Vegas admitted he first approached the track with a Baby Boy-style energy. “She wanted me to be more hardcore on the record because I was trying to do a Baby Boy-type of thing with a Sean Paul vibe,” he said. “And she was like, ‘No, no.’ She wanted the raw thing.”
But the raw thing didn’t last. “Someone actually leaked the record,” Vegas recalled. Once leaked, “the record started taking off on the East Coast.” DJ Vlad confirmed that people close to him said the track was hitting No. 1 on radio.
At one point, a studio engineer even played Beyoncé’s upcoming album for Vegas — one that included Standing on the Sun. The optimism was short-lived. “The next day, or two days after, I woke up, and Beyoncé dropped a totally new project at 12 midnight,” Vegas remembered. “No Standing on the Sun, nothing I heard in the studio. So, maybe because they leaked the record, she was pissed or something. I don’t know. But then, later on, she put it on her Platinum compilation.”
The track’s legacy resurfaced in 2022 when Rolling Stone included Standing on the Sun featuring Mr. Vegas in its list of Beyoncé’s 70 Greatest Songs — “from hits that owned the radio to empowerment anthems that stopped the world.”
At No. 70, Standing on the Sun was described as “breezy” with a “fun tropical element.” Rolling Stone noted that the song was largely unknown until Beyoncé teamed up with H&M for a summer collection, releasing an extended version featuring Mr. Vegas that gave the track it’s lasting cult appeal.
In July, unreleased music by Beyoncé was stolen in Atlanta just days before her Cowboy Carter tour stop in the city, according to police reports. On 8 July 2025, choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue parked a rented Jeep Wagoneer near a food hall when the vehicle’s rear window was smashed and two suitcases were taken. Inside were five jump drives containing unreleased Beyoncé tracks, past and future show plans, and tour set lists, along with a laptop, designer clothes, and Apple AirPods. Authorities tracked some of the missing devices and discovered two light fingerprints, and although an arrest warrant has been issued, the suspect has not been named and it remains unclear if the items have been recovered.
The incident strikes at the heart of Beyoncé’s famously tight security around her creative output. Since early career leaks of Dangerously In Love and 4, the star has pioneered secrecy measures, most famously with the surprise release of her 2013 self-titled album. Collaborators are often kept in the dark until records appear in stores, and even major stars like Post Malone have described the elaborate steps taken to safeguard her music. Fans, too, have respected this ethos, famously refusing to spread her 2022 album Renaissance when it leaked early.
Beyoncé has not commented publicly on the Atlanta theft, which occurred two days before the first of her four shows in the city. Her husband, Jay-Z, made a surprise appearance during the run, underscoring the star power of the tour. Cowboy Carter, released in 2024, went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, cementing its place as both a musical and cultural statement on the Black roots of country music.
