After much anticipation, Beyoncé dropped her 12 track visual album titled “Lemonade” last week. Most of the attention was brought to her lyrics and the hints at her husbands’ infidelity. She’s a first-name-only recognized star, her husband, too, and dropping indications of their rocky marriage and her humbled upbringing is something to be recognized. Let’s not completely look past the lyrics but appreciate that this album is also one of the most diverse, track to track, that we have seen from any artist.
When Formation was revealed as the first single from this album (that we didn’t yet know was an album), I expected the entire album to echo it and I was exceedingly surprised and ecstatic that it wasn’t. This track is a girl power centered, self-love, upbeat song and while that’s what we expect from Bey, we were lucky enough to receive so much more than that.
The genres can’t be counted on one hand but each is executed flawlessly, no Beyoncé- pun intended. The first unique genre to grace this album was a reggae, Jamaican feel titled “Hold Up.” The instrumentation and rhythms take listeners to a different, tropical-like place and was something we haven’t heard from Beyoncé, not even in her Destiny’s Child days.
Later comes the “Partition” of this album titled “6 Inch” featuring The Weeknd. An album with the almost breakup feel like this one doesn’t deserve many sexy songs, like her last album was comprised of, but she did it anyway. Her low range vocals came in unbelievably strong in this song, making it one of those that absolutely no human can sing along with. Another very Beyoncé thing to do.
There were ballads, too, that showed the “Cadillac Records” vulnerability in her voice. “Pray You Catch Me” is the first track on the album and set the pace for the album with her haunting vocals. There’s no jaw dropping high notes or riffs, it just feels real and honest and I think that was the point. “Sandcastles” is ultimately the most faulted song on the album but in the best way possible. Accompanied by solely a piano and no editing done to the breaks and rasp in her voice, it feels real. This is the start of her accepting, what we assume to be, Jay Z back after a scandal and it needs that exposure and openness. It deserves it.
“Daddy Lessons,” a country song with a New Orleans feel, was perhaps one of the greatest moments of this album, proving just how wildly versatile Bey is. With no warning, listeners are taken to the south with the brass instruments and the first word uttered, a subtle “Texas” at the beginning of the track. This song proved that pop singers can sing country, but this album proved Beyoncé is far more than just a pop singer.
This album shows that even a true icon deals with the things we do, and just like us, she has made the decision to power through or walk away. Importantly, she puts the blame on the cheater himself, not the other woman, something too often done in our society. Her words are empowering to women and make us realize that we have a choice in all things, we have more power than society makes us out to believe we have. Not to mention her underlying theme of racial equality and messages towards gun violence and police brutality. “Lemonade” confirms that Beyoncé is the queen of all musical genres, using her voice to make a change in lives of women and humanity as a whole, and even television (the visual album is being submitted for an Emmy nom). We can only sit here and wonder what she will do next.
