Beyoncé is back (by popular demand). Three years following her last surprise album, BEYONCÉ, Queen B has descended upon us with another surprise album. This is no secret. It’s only been a little over a week since the entire world either heard of, listened to, or watched the new release “Lemonade.” It lit social media ablaze with the witch hunt for Becky with the “good hair,” rumors of divorce, and an innumerable amount of famous cameos.
While I could easily take the time to review the endless ways in which the film, Lemonade, is just a cultural phenomenon and masterpiece all by itself, I’m sure many of you have already been talked to and thought-pieced to death about the significance of Beyoncé’s artistry. Let’s get down to the meat of it all though: is the music even any good?
Briefly, yes. The music is extremely good. It is diverse, confessional, and the most adventurous foray Beyoncé has made, probably over her career. In a concise 12 tracks, including previously released Formation and a brief interlude, Forward, Beyoncé has done it again. Before I dive into the tracklist, I should note that I am considering these songs independent of their accompanying film (with perhaps one or two exceptions).
1. Pray You Catch Me
The first of the album’s mid-tempo ballads, Pray You Catch Me is the first chapter. The distorted vocal harmonies that open this track and the opening line are summary enough for this ethereal and moving track: “You can taste the dishonesty / It’s all over your breath”. The song cracks open this narrative of infidelity and evokes images of the singer ‘praying’ that she catches her husband during those 4 AM hushed phone calls to the other woman, ‘praying’ that her husband catches her listening in. It’s a heart-breaking sentiment, fully-fleshed out with a gorgeous string ensemble and a hauntingly whispered final lyric: “What are you doing my love?”
2. Hold Up
As the reggae-tinged beat and the alarm sounds to this next track, you can quickly understand that this narrative has moved quickly. Hold Up follows Beyoncé (or is it even Beyoncé at all) as she is wrestling with her husband’s infidelity. She is on the hunt. We see anger begin to ignite “I don’t wanna lose my pride / but imma f*** me up a b****” in the verses with the clear irritation that she is too good to be treated like this, she treats her husband too well to be taken advantage of. The song is fun, care-free and the Diplo-produced tropical instrumental predicts that this song will be sticking around on radio and party playlists for time to come.
3. Don’t Hurt Yourself (feat. Jack White)
With Don’t Hurt Yourself, you take the emerging anger and passion of Hold Up and just metaphorically (but also literally) turn up the speaker dial to full. With the aid of The White Stripes front-man, Jack White, we receive this organic rock song that has increasing impressive lyrics to carry some of Beyoncé’s rawest vocals to date. “Who the f*** do you think I am?” is the question at the center of the booming track that makes you just want to walk up to your significant other (real or imaginary) and smash a wine bottle over their head and tell them to get their act together. Additionally, the closing lyrics of this song have to be some of the most “yikes”-inducing lyrics on a Beyoncé album (“This is your final warning, you know I give you life / You try this s*** again, you gon’ lose your wife”).
4. Sorry
One of the most fun, carefree tracks on Lemonade, in Sorry we find Beyoncé apathetic and carefree in the face of her husband’s cheating. She’s fed up with the excuses and she sees herself leaving by the end of the track. Aside from the iconic closing line alluding to the mistress (“He better call Becky with the good hair”), Sorry is definitely one of the most radio-ready songs on the album with its pulsing and bouncing beat and its simple, fun lyrics. I will also admit that watching Serena Williams (*cue internal YASSSS*) twerk next to Beyoncé sitting upon a throne had to be one of the most satisfying aspects of this song during the actual HBO-special.
5. 6 Inch (feat. The Weeknd)
This song is most definitely a Weeknd track. Just hearing the pulsing bass and the muted horns in the first 20 seconds of the song, you know that Abel Tesfaye is making an imminent appearance. The sultry yet short chorus hearkens back to the sexiness that was integral to Beyoncé’s last self-titled record. Utilizing imagery of the life of a stripper, this song is dark and gritty we find ourselves being told about this woman who “grinds from Monday to Friday / works from Friday to Sunday” just stacking her paper and being “too smart to crave material things”. In a way, we can still see this as a furthering of the above narrative, as this character has taken to work and stacking her paper to move on from the pain of her husband’s infidelity. Lastly, this song boasts probably the strongest bridges in a Beyoncé song. Seriously, just go listen to it.
6. Daddy Lessons
Despite spawning some of the funniest meme’s I’ve seen in relation to this album, this is a track that caught many off guard upon its introduction, Daddy Lessons is a country-infused song that has Beyoncé reflecting about all the different things her father taught her about life. From being warned about men trying to play her (“my daddy warned me about men like you”) to carrying a gun in order to protect herself (“When trouble comes to town / and men like me come around, my daddy said, ‘shoot’”). The song the oddity of the album, but that doesn’t mean it is bad. In fact, it is this uniqueness that makes it so strong. With an organic production of guitars, horns, hand claps, and this infectiously looped coo vocal, this track has your foot tapping in no-time and makes you want to go buy a cowboy hat. It showcases Beyoncé’s southern roots and, when in the context of such a confessional and personal album, definitely carves out its own belonging.
7. Love Drought
Something that could probably be found on an FKA Twigs album (or a similarly alternative R&B artist), Love Drought sees the return of love to the story. Beyoncé is re-examining the power and significance of her relationship with imagery of disastrous and cataclysmic events being quelled should both parties just devote each other fully to one another again. There’s hesitation in Beyoncé’s lyrics (“If I wasn’t Bey would you still feel me?”) but the movement towards reconciliation is there. The production is so dreamlike and atmospheric that you can’t help but be swept away in the swirling beats and synths.
8. Sandcastles
“Every promise don’t work out that way.” Sandcastles marks the beginning of forgiveness. Lyrically, the song examines the lies and faults of both parties in the relationship. For me, I found that the lyrics were strong but the weakest on the album. However, this song makes up for it with Beyoncé’s vocals. And when I say vocals, I really mean vocals. Rivaled only by “Halo” perhaps, Sandcastles carries some of Beyoncé’s most heartbreaking, clear, and emotional vocals I’ve heard. It even has this artificial choir of layered Beyoncé vocals to reinforce the already stunning performance. Backed by this choir and just a simple piano, Sandcastles has you picking your phone back up to call the ex you just broke up with after listening to the first half of this album.
9. Forward (feat. James Blake)
I can only examine this song (or minute and a half long interlude rather) in the context of the HBO film because of the poignancy of it’s video. James Blake’s vocals and the simple piano that consist of this track are somber and emotional all by themselves. However, during this whole interlude, viewers of Lemonade are met with the grieving mothers of victims of police brutality. Visually, sonically, politically and thematically this track is heartbreaking. I’ve hit skip so many times on this song for that reason alone. This song is a tribute to the fight against police brutality and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It may seem bizarre to have this random interlude with only three tracks left on the album, but when you understand it through the visual aspect of the album, this track is absolutely dazzling.
10. Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Following Forward, we have the most kinetic track on the album: Freedom. The most politically charged song on the album (if we are considering lyrics alone) it is hard to even contain this song to any genre or context. Its name is as good an indicator as any to what you’re getting with this track. Personally, the real gem of this track (aside from the crisp and commanding drums) is Kendrick’s verse. The verse accelerates at an alarming rate with a countdown motif that fits so cohesively within the song and also further displays the politics of the song with Lamar’s lyrics (“8 blacks left; death is around the corner / 7 misleading headlines about my persona”).
11. All Night
The song that closes the visual experience that is Lemonade, All Night is the resolution of this tale of lies, infidelity, anger, and forgiveness. The echoing guitar strums and the call and response structure of the verses already make the song simply enjoyable to listen to. Combine that with more impressive lyricism (“I’ve seen your scars and kissed your crimes”) and we have a track that touts the strength and resilience of Beyoncé’s love for this man. Typically, within the context of someone cheating, people find the person being cheated on as weak and lacking in confidence when they stay. But often times, love is so complex that you can’t call things with such decisiveness. This song displays that. Songs like this, when I listen to them, just make me believe that true love is real and anything is possible. It serves as the perfect conclusion to the narrative and themes of the album, exemplifying the “I was given lemons and made lemonade” motif present throughout the very fabric of this album.
12. Formation
This song doesn’t need much of a review. Political controversy aside, Formation is undeniable. You hear that first beat kick in and you can’t help but be swept away by Beyoncé’s confidence and swagger. There is not much to say about this song that hasn’t already been said. It’s a celebration. A celebration of Beyoncé’s child, her husband, her southern roots, her black roots, and her black culture. And if that is a problem for you then… you’re probably not reading this anyway.
Lemonade is a triumph. Stylistically, artistically and sonically it is some of Beyoncé’s strongest work to date. It sees her at her most confessional, her most political, her most emotional, and best of all, her most assertive. It has country, it has power ballads, it has rock and roll, it has R&B, it has Kendrick Lamar. The interesting paradox that Lemonade finds itself at the center of is that it is so universal, but also so (almost shockingly so) specific. If you haven’t listened to the album then do it. And if you can (and you really should) watch the hour long special. It will be worth it. Trust me.
