Holy. Crap. This was one of the most beautiful pieces of film work I have ever seen. I watched it at 8 p.m. on HBO and I simply could not peel my eyes away from the TV. I was vocally reclaiming to the beauty and intensity that Beyoncé, her miraculous team of artists, and the other people in the visual album have put together.
First off, a visual album was an ingenious idea to bring this music to life. It gave the music so much meaning and substance that I never thought watching a video could. She titled each chapter with a different word, beginning with and in order with, "Intuition," "Denial," "Apathy," "Emptiness," and "Resurrection." For each of these chapters, one or more songs accompanied the sections.
She collaborated with artists such as The Weeknd, James Blake, and Kendrick Lamar. Serena Williams, Quvenzhané Wallis, Amandla Stenberg, and Zendaya made appearances visually. Also incredibly important appearances were the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. The visual album also portrayed Beyoncé's husband and daughter, Jay Z and Blue Ivy.
The visuals are amazingly beautiful and wonderfully filmed and edited. There are several images of fields, staircases, rooms, parking garage's, and plantation homes. The clothing throughout the piece was also incredible, each outfit was so very different from the one that followed it and they all caught my eye and suited the surrounding space in which they were filmed in.
Beyoncé quoted poetry by Warsan Shire (a Somali-British poet) in a gravelly, emotional, and honest voice that carried us through the imagery when we were not graced with her singing capabilities. Everything about this visual album - this confession, these intimate details about Beyoncé's life, family, heritage, and feelings, was so starkly beautiful as to be only conveyed as a success.
I have nothing but love for Beyoncé's amazingly beautiful "Lemonade."