Beyoncé says the theme of her latest record is realising that there is "beauty in imperfection".

The superstar singer surprised fans on Friday (December 13) when she released her self-titled new album to iTunes without any notice.

Speaking in a new video clip uploaded on YouTube, Beyoncé opened up on a lesson she learnt as a 9-year-old after losing a talent show, noting that that winning isn't everything.

She said: "My message behind this album was finding the beauty in imperfection. I had this image of a trophy and me accepting these awards, and kinda training myself to be this champion and at the end of the day when you go through all of these things, is it worth it?

"You get this trophy, and you're like, 'I basically starved. I have neglected all of the people I love, I conformed to what everybody else thinks I should be. And I have this trophy. What does that mean?'. The trophy represents all of the sacrifices that I made as a kid. All of the time that I lost being on the road and in the studios as a child and I just wanna blow that sh*t up."

The US star added: "I feel like something about the aggression of 'Bow Down' and the attitude of 'Flawless' - the reality is, sometimes you lose. And you're never too good to lose, you're never too big to lose, you're never too smart to lose, it happens. And it happens when it needs to happen. And you have to embrace those things."