#32 Beyoncé, 'Lemonade' (2016)

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‘Lemonade’ is the sixth and most recent record by Beyoncé. It was Beyoncé’s  response to the infidelities of her husband, Jay-Z, and she holds nothing back. Opening with ‘Pray You Catch Me’ and the lyrics “You can taste the dishonesty/It's all over your breath/As you pass it off so cavalier.” The first single to be released from the record was ‘Formation,’ a surprise release the day before its performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, which preceded the ‘Formation World Tour.’ The song is a female empowerment anthem specifically about black identity, heritage and culture. Beyoncé’s always been an artist with something to say, even back to her Destiny’s Child days, but specifically on this release, she doesn’t hold back. On ‘Hold Up’ she sings “I smell your secrets, and I'm not too perfect/To ever feel this worthless/How did it come down to this?,” while on ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself,’ a duet with Jack White and a style I never thought I’d hear connected to a Beyoncé song, she spits vitriol the likes of “Who the fuck do you think I am?/You ain't married to no average bitch, boy,” “And keep your money, I got my own,” “Bad motherfucker, God complex.” It’s Beyoncé at her most scorned and angry. Jay-Z was lucky that she took him back; “Uh, this is your final warning/You know I give you life/If you try this shit again/You gon' lose your wife.”

Similar to her previous release, Beyoncé accompanied this record with a 65-minute visual album. The eleven chapters on the film are entitled ‘Intuition,’ ‘Denial,’ ‘Anger,’ ‘Apathy,’ ‘Emptiness,’ ‘Accountability,’ ‘Reformation,’ ‘Forgiveness,’ ‘Resurrection,’ ‘Hope,’ and ‘Redemption’ and that perfectly summarises the themes on the record. The record is also about Black Feminism & African-American history and culture. This album will go down as one of the most important albums in history due to its key messages; women don’t deserve men who treat them like shit & Black people aren’t lesser humans. Beyoncé is one of the most influential musicians of all time due to her talents as a vocalist, but also because she’s not scared to speak her mind. ‘Lemonade’ is the Beyoncé album that I enjoy most. I found it to be full of surprises. It’s spans genres; Beyoncé refuses to be pigeonholed, and so she shouldn’t. Other songs on the record that I enjoyed include ‘Daddy Lessons,’ ‘Sorry,’ ‘Forward (feat. James Blake)’ and ‘Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar).’ In fact, I think the latter is my favourite Beyoncé song.

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