To say that Lemonade was anything other than revolutionary feels like an understatement.
This album, released with no prior notice, was accompanied by a sixty-five minute film divided into 11 chapters: Intuition”, “Denial”, “Anger”, “Apathy”, “Emptiness”, “Accountability”, “Reformation”, “Forgiveness”, “Resurrection”, “Hope”, and “Redemption”. It encompasses themes of feminism, race, family and infidelity – with the whole world infamously becoming detectives and trying to work out who exactly ‘Becky with the good hair’ is, and what happened between her and Jay-Z – and ranges across a multitude of genres from country to gospel to R&B.
Lemonade has gone down in history as Beyoncé’s best album for many reasons, and it isn’t difficult to see why. From her incredibly empowering collaborations such as ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ with Jack White and ‘Freedom’ featuring Kendrick Lamar to her impeccable vocals on heartfelt ballads like ‘Pray You Catch Me’, ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Sandcastles’, this album embodies strength. It also cements Beyonce’s position as one of the greatest innovators in the music industry and is credited as reviving the album format after such a long time being dominated by singles and streaming, as well as for reinventing the themes of storytelling and breakups in modern music.
Lemonade is out now via Parkwood and Columbia. Watch the video for ‘Hold Up’ below:
