Lemonade (Beyoncé album)

Lemonade
Studio album by Beyoncé
Released April 23, 2016 (2016-04-23)
Genre
Length 45:49
Label
Director
Producer
Beyoncé chronology
Beyoncé: More Only
(2014)		 Lemonade
(2016)
Singles from Lemonade
  1. "Formation"
    Released: February 6, 2016
  2. "Sorry"
    Released: May 3, 2016[7]

Lemonade is the sixth studio album by American singer Beyoncé, released on April 23, 2016, by Parkwood Entertainment and distributed through Columbia Records. The record is Beyoncé's second "visual album", following her eponymous 2013 record, and a concept album.[8] While its predecessor featured individual music videos for each track, Lemonade was accompanied upon its release by a one-hour film aired on HBO. The album encompasses genres including R&B, pop, hip hop, blues, rock, soul, funk, country, gospel, and trap. Streaming service Tidal described the Lemonade concept as "every woman's journey of self-knowledge and healing."[9] It features guest vocals from James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and Jack White.

Lemonade was made available for online streaming on April 23 through Tidal, which Beyoncé co-owns, and released for paid purchase through the service the following day. It was later launched for purchase by track or album to Amazon Music and the iTunes Store on April 25 and at physical retailers May 6. The record was preceded by the release of the single "Formation" on February 6, 2016. In April 2016, Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour to promote the album. Lemonade debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 485,000 copies in its first week (653,000 with additional equivalent-album units).[10]

Background

The album title was inspired by Beyoncé's grandmother Agnéz Deréon, as well as her husband Jay Z's grandmother, Hattie White. At the end of track "Freedom", Hattie White is heard speaking to a crowd at her 90th birthday party in April 2015. During the speech, Hattie says "I had my ups and downs, but I always found the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade."[11]

Visuals

The album was accompanied by the release of a 60-minute film of the same name, which premiered on HBO on April 23, 2016.[12] The film is divided into eleven segments: Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, and Hope and Redemption. It uses poetry and prose written by expatriate Somali poet Warsan Shire; her poems which she adapted were "The Unbearable Weight of Staying", "Dear Moon", "How to Wear Your Mother's Lipstick", "Nail Technician as Palm Reader", and "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love".[13][14] It also features Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Amandla Stenberg, Quvenzhané Wallis, Chloe x Halle, Zendaya, and Serena Williams.[15] HBO plans to submit the film for an Emmy in the Variety Special category.[16]

The album addresses the Black Lives Matter movement. The mothers of Trayvon Martin (Sybrina Fulton), Michael Brown (Lesley McFadden), Eric Garner (Gwen Carr) are featured holding pictures of their deceased sons.[17][18]

The film features a wide diversity of images, most including Beyonce herself, from studio-lit dance numbers, to poetic nature sequences in the American South, to urban night footage, to stock footage, to Beyonce's home movies. The images vary greatly in lighting, style, color and black and white, and vary dramatically in aspect ratio to super widescreen to 4:3. Like the lyrics and poetic interludes, the visuals provoke complex and at times cryptic ideas about race, gender, power, marriage, infidelity, parenthood, and the experience of black women in America. The film was shot by seven different cinematographers and edited together by Bill Yukich.

Music and lyrics

The album features musicians such as bassist Marcus Miller, Jack White, and Kendrick Lamar, and sampling from folk music collectors John Lomax, Sr. and his son Alan Lomax on "Freedom". Beyoncé and her team reference the musical memories of all those periods including a brass band, stomping blues-rock, ultraslow avant-R&B, preaching, a prison song (both collected by John and Alan Lomax), and the sound of the 1960s fuzz-tone guitar psychedelia (sampling the Puerto Rican band Kaleidoscope).[19]

The Washington Post called the album a "surprisingly furious song-cycle about infidelity and revenge",[20] referencing the classical compositional genre defined in German lieder by Schumann, Schubert and Brahms. The Chicago Tribune described the album as not just a mere grab for popular music dominance, rather it is a retrospective that allows the listener to explore Beyoncé's personal circumstances, with musical tones from the southern United States, a harkening back towards her formative years spent in Texas.[21] AllMusic wrote that Beyoncé "delights in her blackness, femininity, and Southern origin with supreme wordplay."[1] According to The A.V. Club, the tracks "encompass and interpolate the entire continuum of R&B, rock, soul, hip-hop, pop, and blues", accomplished by a deft precision "blurring eras and references with determined impunity."[2] The Guardian and Entertainment Weekly both noted that the album touches on country music,[3][22] and Entertainment Weekly noticed the use of avant-garde musical elements. Consequence of Sound wrote that the album's genres span "from gospel to rock to r&b to trap";[4] both Isaac Hayes and Andy Williams are sampled.[3] PopMatters noticed how the album was nuanced in its theme of anger and betrayal with vast swathes of the album bathed in political context; however, it is still a pop album at its essence with darker and praiseworthy tones.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The A.V. ClubA–[2]
The Daily Telegraph[23]
Entertainment WeeklyA+[3]
The Guardian[22]
The Independent[24]
NME4/5[25]
Pitchfork Media8.5/10[26]
Rolling Stone[27]
Spin9/10[28]

Lemonade received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 93, based on 29 reviews.,[29] making it her highest rated album to date on the site. AllMusic writer Andy Kellman felt that "the cathartic and wounded moments here resonate in a manner matched by few, if any, of Beyoncé's contemporaries."[1] In Spin, Greg Tate wrote that the album "is out to sonorously suck you into its gully gravitational orbit the old fashioned way, placing the burden of conjuration on its steamy witches’ brew of beats, melodies, and heavy-hearted-to-merry-pranksterish vocal seductions. In her mastery of carnal and esoteric mysteries, Queen Bey raises the spirits, sizzles the flesh, and rallies her troops."[28]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian wrote that the album "feels like a success" and that Beyoncé sounded "genuinely imperious".[22] The Daily Telegraph writer Jonathan Bernstein felt it was her strongest work to date and "proves there's a thin line between love and hate."[23] Nekesa Moody from The Washington Post called the album a "deeply personal, yet ... a bold social and political statement as well".[30] Writing for The New York Times, Jon Pareles praised Beyoncé's vocals and her courage to talk about subjects that affect so many people, and noted that "the album is not beholden to radio formats or presold by a single".[31] Greg Kot from the Chicago Tribune felt that "artistic advances" seem "slight" in context towards the record's "more personal, raw and relatable" aspects, where it came out as a "clearly conceived" piece of music, meaning it had a "unifying vision" for what may have lent itself to being "a prettily packaged hodgepodge" is a cohesive musical work.[21]

Reviewing the album in The Independent, Everett True wrote that it "is fiery, insurgent, fiercely proud, sprawling and sharply focused in its dissatisfaction."[24] Ray Rahman wrote for Entertainment Weekly that Beyoncé is way "too busy putting out her boldest, most ambitious, best album to date", declaring simply "middle fingers up."[3] Writing a review for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield opined that she affirmed her "superhero status" with this album.[27] Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork Media wrote that her pursuit of "realness" gives the album a certain "quality to it that also invites skepticism".[26] In The A.V. Club Annie Zaleski wrote that it was "yet another seismic step forward for Beyoncé as a musician."[2]

Shahzaib Hussain, writing for Clash, stated: "Lemonade is Beyoncé at her most benevolent, and her most unadulterated. Treating her blackness not as an affliction but a celebratory beacon, Lemonade is a long overdue, cathartic retribution."[32] In the NME, Larry Bartleet said the album was "sweet but with an edge".[25] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that the album "is her most lyrically and thematically coherent effort to date."[33] Maura Johnston of Time wrote that its tracks were "fresh yet instantly familiar" with an "over-the-top but intimate" sound.[34] Jamie Milton of DIY wrote that "there's so much more than an enthralling story to draw out of this all-slaying work", where "Beyoncé can count herself as a risk-taker breaking new ground, up there with the bravest."[35] Exclaim!'s Erin Lowers wrote that "If you've ever been handed lemons, you need Lemonade."[36] Britt Julious of Consequence of Sound described the album to a "gift" Beyoncé has given to the listener that is "raw yet polished, beautiful yet ugly."[4] PopMatters writer Evan Sawdey felt few albums could ever be considered "as bold, complex, or resolute as Lemonade,"[5] and the BBC's Mark Savage noted that Beyoncé had become an albums artist, with a range extending beyond that of radio play.[37]

Commercial performance

In the United States, Lemonade debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 485,000 copies in its first week (653,000 with additional equivalent-album units). Subsequently, she broke the record she previously tied with DMX, by becoming the first artist in the chart's history to have their first six studio albums debut at No. 1.[10] In the same week, Beyoncé became the first female to chart 12 or more songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, with every song on the album debuting on the chart. She passed the previously held record of 11 with Taylor Swift's Speak Now album.[38]

The record debuted at number one in the UK selling 73,000 copies, 14% of the sales accounting for streaming equivalent sales, the largest ever for a number one album since the chart included streaming.[39]

In Australia, Lemonade sold 20,499 digital copies to debut at the top spot and becoming her second consecutive number one album.[40]

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal.[41]

Lemonade – Disc one (audio)
No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "Pray You Catch Me"  
  • Garrett
  • Knowles
 3:16
2. "Hold Up"  
  • Diplo
  • Knowles
  • Koenig
 3:41
3. "Don't Hurt Yourself" (featuring Jack White)
  • White
  • Knowles
  • Derek Dixie[a]
 3:54
4. "Sorry"  
  • Gordon
  • Rhoden
  • Knowles
 3:53
5. "6 Inch" (featuring The Weeknd)
 4:20
6. "Daddy Lessons"  
 4:48
7. "Love Drought"  
  • Dean
  • Knowles
 3:57
8. "Sandcastles"  
  • Knowles
  • Vincent Berry
 3:03
9. "Forward" (featuring James Blake)
  • Blake
  • Knowles
  • Blake
  • Knowles
 1:19
10. "Freedom" (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
 4:50
11. "All Night"  
  • Diplo
  • Knowles
  • Henry Allen[a]
 5:22
12. "Formation"  
 3:26
Total length:
 45:49
Lemonade – Disc two (visual)
No. TitleDirector(s) Length
1. "Lemonade"  
 1:05:22
Sample credits[41]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[42] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[42] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[42] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[42] 13
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[43] 1
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[42] 3
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[42] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[44] 4
French Albums (SNEP)[45] 7
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[46] 3
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[47] 3
Irish Albums (IRMA)[48] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[49] 6
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[50] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[51] 1
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[42] 7
Scottish Albums (OCC)[52] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[53] 1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[42] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[54] 1
US Billboard 200[10] 1

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[55] Gold 100,000
United States 4655,065300[10]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
Various April 23, 2016 Streaming Parkwood [41]
April 24, 2016 Digital download
[56]
United States May 6, 2016
[57]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kellman, Andy (April 28, 2016). "Lemonade – Beyoncé : Review". AllMusic. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Zaleski, Annie (April 25, 2016). "Beyoncé’s Lemonade pushes pop music into smarter, deeper places". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rahman, Ray (April 27, 2016). "Beyoncé's Lemonade: EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Julious, Britt (April 29, 2016). "Beyoncé – Lemonade". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Sawdey, Evan (April 28, 2016). "Beyoncé: Lemonade". PopMatters. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  6. ↑ O'Conner, Samantha (April 25, 2016). "Beyoncé – Lemonade". The 405. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Top 40 Rhythmic: Future Releases". All Access. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Beyonce's 'Lemonade' tops Billboard, Prince reigns on album chart". Reuters. 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  9. ↑ Coscarelli, Joe (2016-04-23). "Beyoncé Releases Surprise Album ‘Lemonade’ After HBO Special". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Beyoncé Earns Sixth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Lemonade'". Billboard. May 1, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  11. ↑ Stephens, Brittney. "Here's Why Beyoncé Titled Her New Album Lemonade". POPSUGAR Celebrity Australia. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
  12. 1 2 "Beyoncé Releases New Album Lemonade Featuring Kendrick Lamar, Jack White, the Weeknd, James Blake". Pitchfork Media. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Garcia, Patricia (April 25, 2016). "Warsan Shire Is the Next Beyoncé-Backed Literary Sensation". Vogue. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  14. ↑ Leaf, Aaron (2016-04-23). "Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Warsan Shire Featured In Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’". Okay Africa. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  15. ↑ Price, S.L. "Serena Williams is SI's Sportperson of the Year". www.si.com. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  16. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher (2016-04-26). "HBO to Submit Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ for Emmy Consideration". Variety. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  17. ↑ "Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner's Mothers Appear in Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' Video". Essence.com. 2016-04-24. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  18. ↑ Tinsley, Omise’eke Natasha. "Beyoncé’s Lemonade Is Black Woman Magic". TIME.com. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  19. ↑ Pareles, Jon (2016-04-24). "Review: Beyoncé Makes ‘Lemonade’ Out of Marital Strife". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  20. ↑ Richards, Chris (2016-04-24). "Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ turns life’s lemons into furious pop". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  21. 1 2 Kot, Greg (April 24, 2016). "Beyonce's 'Lemonade' contains singer's most fully realized music yet". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  22. 1 2 3 Petridis, Alexis (April 24, 2016). "Beyoncé – Lemonade review: 'A woman not to be messed with'". The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  23. 1 2 Bernstein, Jonathan (April 24, 2016). "Lemonade is Beyoncé at her most profane, political and personal — review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  24. 1 2 True, Everett (April 26, 2016). "Beyoncé, Lemonade review: Fiery, insurgent, fiercely proud, sprawling and sharply focused". The Independent. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Bartleet, Larry (April 25, 2016). "Beyonce – 'Lemonade' Review". NME. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  26. 1 2 Mapes, Jillian (April 26, 2016). "Beyoncé: Lemonade". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  27. 1 2 Sheffield, Rob (April 25, 2016). "The queen, in middle-fingers-up mode, makes her most powerful, ambitious statement yet". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  28. 1 2 Tate, Greg (April 28, 2016). "Review: Beyoncé Is the Rightful Heir to Michael Jackson and Prince on ‘Lemonade’". Spin. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Critic Reviews for Lemonade". Metacritic. April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  30. ↑ Moody, Nekesa (April 24, 2016). "Review: Beyonce again proves to be center of pop universe". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  31. ↑ Pareles, Jon (April 24, 2016). "Review: Beyoncé Makes 'Lemonade' Out of Marital Strife". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  32. ↑ Hussain, Shahzaib (April 26, 2016). "Beyoncé – Lemonade". Clash. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  33. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (April 25, 2016). "Beyoncé: Lemonade". Slant Magazine. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  34. ↑ Johnston, Maura (April 24, 2016). "Review: Beyoncé Makes Lemonade From Romantic Strife on Her New Album". Time. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  35. ↑ Milton, Jamie (April 27, 2016). "Album Review: Beyoncé – Lemonade". DIY. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  36. ↑ Lowers, Erin (April 28, 2016). "Beyoncé: Lemonade". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  37. ↑ 2016-04-30. "How Beyonce became an 'albums artist' - and what radio is doing about it". BBC. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  38. ↑ "All 12 of Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' Tracks Debut on Hot 100". Billboard. May 2, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  39. ↑ "Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' fizzes to Official Albums Chart Number 1". Official Charts Company. April 29, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  40. ↑ "Beyoncé’s 'Lemonade' beats Prince on Australian music charts". News.com.au. May 1, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  41. 1 2 3 "Lemonade / Beyoncé". Tidal. April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "ultratop.be – Beyoncé – Lemonade". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  43. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/charts/canadian-albums
  44. ↑ http://ifpi.fi/tilastot/virallinen-lista/artistit/beyonc%C3%A9/lemonade
  45. ↑ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums". SNEP. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  46. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Beyoncé – Lemonade" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  47. ↑ "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2016. 17. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  48. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 17, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  49. ↑ "italiancharts.com – Beyoncé – Lemonade". FIMI. Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  50. ↑ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. May 2, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  51. ↑ "VG-lista – Topp 40 Album uke 17, 2016". VG-lista. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  52. ↑
  53. ↑ http://www.sverigetopplistan.se/. Click on "Veckans albumlista".
  54. ↑ "Lemonade fizzes to Official Albums Number 1". 2016-05-05. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  55. ↑ "British album certifications – Beyoncé – Lemonade". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved May 6, 2016. Enter Lemonade in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  56. ↑ Ryan, Patrick (April 24, 2016). "Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' hits music retailers tonight". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  57. ↑ "Lemonade (CD/DVD)". Amazon.com. Retrieved April 25, 2016.

External links

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