Queen Bey’s pop reign is a well-oiled pop and R&B machine, both creative and massively successful. Few artists live in both artistic and commercial worlds, and few have the Teflon skin she does. Pretentious music criticisms do little to deter her creative resolve and bank accounts. She’s got a business savvy that few can match. Ever evolving, Beyoncé is one woman who honestly doesn’t give a shit what you think of her. The faintest whiff of controversy is addressed in song lyrics and social media posts, as Millennial divas are prone to do. The only way to tell there’s trouble in her queendom is by what she writes and sings about.
Welcome to Lemonade, Beyoncé’s new visual album that premiered Saturday night, bringing whispers of discontent to her royal court. It opens with suspicion regarding a lying lover that turns into scorn for a cheater. Beyoncé moves from disbelief to revenge in “Hold Up,” “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” and “Sorry.” The ruse of marital bliss shatters as her soul mate gets a taste of what losing her feels like. The music spans the entire pop spectrum – R&B, funk, rock, and blues – but only one question remains: Is he worth the trouble?
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Beyoncé’s albums always bring a wealth of diverse sounds and an elite group of guests and producers, but Lemonade takes her sound into uncharted territory. The album opener, “Pray You Catch Me,” a collaboration with British singer and producer James Blake, plays in new ways with layered vocals and synth textures. “Hold Up” and “Sorry” find inspiration in Caribbean music (where Beyonce got her groove back?) The tropical vibe samples Soulja Boy and Andy Williams’s ’60s pop classic, “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”
Even with Beyonce’s signature slinky R&B sensibilities baked into its production, Lemonade transcends her sounds from the past. “Don’t Hurt Yourself” is a long-overdue black feminist anthem. This track is arrogant, which stems from hurt and recognition of betrayal. It’s a fiery, funk-rock indictment of a cheating spouse.
“6 Inch” isn’t what you think it’s about. It is a song about a confident, successful woman. The ‘6 inch’ describes her heels. Along with R&B wunderkid the Weeknd, the song rises against the backdrop of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned “Walk on By.” “Daddy Lessons” is a country blues banger about Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles, the last man to betray her.
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It’s easy to see Lemonade as a State of the Union address on her marriage, but to do so is a discredit to one the most talented performers of our time. Certainly, other successful songwriters can step outside themselves for meaningful songs that seem personal but are not. For example, Taylor Swift has written many songs allegedly about former relationships that have resonated with her audience, yet they are not necessarily autobiographical.
Nonetheless, Lemonade is a fuck-off on an epic scale if even a word of it is true. Even the most stable marriages couldn’t survive the flings and betrayals set down on this album. There are serious insinuations here. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Lemonade expresses her fury, her talent, and the support of women at her side and men at her feet, each hoping to be the one to pick up the pieces or at least be her vehicle of revenge on the man she loves.
Lemonade is more than just a breakup album. It’s a declaration of black female empowerment.
