Unreleased Beyoncé-Alicia Keys Video: A Decade-Long Mystery Fueled by Safety Concerns

Mathew Knowles told a startling tale this week. His daughter Beyoncé and star Alicia Keys had to flee by helicopter during their 2010 Rio de Janeiro video shoot. The cause? A payment dispute with local groups. 

The crisis struck in Rio's favelas. Sony Records hadn't paid the promised money to contacts in the area. "They were in the projects, hood, ghetto in Rio, and Sony Records hadn't paid the gangsters. They had to be helicoptered out of there," Mathew said on a podcast interview.

Filming took place across Rio's neighborhoods in February 2010. The crew shot scenes in Dona Marta and Conceição Hills favelas. Melina Matsoukas led the project, which featured dazzling carnival outfits adorned with Swarovski crystals. 

Six years later, Keys spoke about why the "Put It in a Love Song" video stayed hidden. 

"But you know it just didn't quite, the video didn't quite capture the energy that I think that we really intended it to, and we just felt like it was better to just hold it, so we did that," she explained during a 2026 interview, per Vibe. The track originally appeared on Keys' The Element of Freedom album. 

But the scary incident didn't stop future visits to Rio. In 2013, Beyoncé returned to shoot her "Blue" music video. She filmed across Rio de Janeiro and Trancoso during the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. 

Social media lit up after Mathew's story broke. One fan wrote on the interview clip, per Atlanta Black Star: "Thanks for asking about the Alicia Keys collab video bc we've been wondering where that video has been for AGES!" 

After 15 years, the video stays locked away. While Keys hinted in 2016 that the footage might surface as "some old secret," no plans exist to share it with fans.