Lemonade (Beyoncé album)

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Lemonade
Beyonce - Lemonade (Official Album Cover).png
Studio album by Beyoncé
Released April 23, 2016 (2016-04-23)
Genre Neo soul[1]
Length 45:49
Label
Director
Producer
Beyoncé chronology
Beyoncé
(2013)Beyoncé2013		 Lemonade
(2016)
Singles from Lemonade
  1. "Formation"
    Released: February 6, 2016
  2. "Sorry"
    Released: May 3, 2016

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.[2] 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 a variety of genres including pop, R&B, blues, rock, hip hop, soul, funk, country, gospel, and trap. It features guest vocals from James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and Jack White.

The record 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 widely acclaimed by critics, who praised it as Beyoncé's boldest and best crafted work to date. 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) earning Beyoncé her sixth consecutive number-one album in the country. The album has spawned two singles – "Formation" as its lead single and "Sorry". In April 2016, Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour to promote the album.

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", an audio recording of Hattie White heard speaking to a crowd at her 90th birthday party in April 2015 is played. 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."[3] Streaming service Tidal described the concept behind Lemonade as "every woman's journey of self-knowledge and healing."[4]

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.[5] 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".[6][7] It also features Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Amandla Stenberg, Quvenzhané Wallis, Chloe x Halle, Zendaya, and Serena Williams.[8] HBO plans to submit the film for an Emmy in the Variety Special category.[9] 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.[10][11]

The film features a wide diversity of images, most including Beyoncé 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 from 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 Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, and bassist Marcus Miller, and sampling from folk music collectors[clarification needed] John Lomax, Sr. and his son Alan Lomax on "Freedom". Beyoncé and her team reference the musical memories of all those periods[clarification needed] 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).[12]

The Washington Post called the album a "surprisingly furious song-cycle about infidelity and revenge",[13] 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.[14] AllMusic wrote that Beyoncé "delights in her blackness, femininity, and Southern origin with supreme wordplay."[15] 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."[16] The Guardian and Entertainment Weekly both noted that the album touches on country music,[17][18] 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";[19] both Isaac Hayes and Andy Williams are sampled.[17] 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.[20]

Promotion

In order to promote the album, Beyoncé embarked The Formation World Tour which visits countries in North America and Europe from April to October, 2016.[21] "Formation" was released as the album's lead single exclusively on Tidal on February 6, 2016 along with its accompanying music video. The following day, Beyoncé performed it at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show as part of her guest appearance on the event.[22] "Sorry" was serviced to rhythmic radios in the US on May 3, 2016.[23]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 92/100[24]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3.5/5 stars[15]
The A.V. Club A–[16]
The Daily Telegraph 5/5 stars[25]
Entertainment Weekly A+[17]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[18]
The Independent 5/5 stars[26]
NME 4/5[27]
Pitchfork Media 8.5/10[28]
Rolling Stone 5/5 stars[29]
Spin 9/10[30]

Lemonade received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 92, based on 33 reviews.[24] 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."[15] 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."[30]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian wrote that the album "feels like a success" and that Beyoncé sounded "genuinely imperious".[18] 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."[25] Nekesa Moody from The Washington Post called the album a "deeply personal, yet ... a bold social and political statement as well".[31] 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".[32] 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.[14]

Reviewing the album in The Independent, Everett True wrote that it "is fiery, insurgent, fiercely proud, sprawling and sharply focused in its dissatisfaction."[26] 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."[17] Writing a review for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield opined that she affirmed her "superhero status" with this album.[29] Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork Media wrote that her pursuit of "realness" gives the album a certain "quality to it that also invites skepticism".[28] In The A.V. Club Annie Zaleski wrote that it was "yet another seismic step forward for Beyoncé as a musician."[16]

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."[33] In the NME, Larry Bartleet said the album was "sweet but with an edge".[27] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that the album "is her most lyrically and thematically coherent effort to date."[34] Maura Johnston of Time wrote that its tracks were "fresh yet instantly familiar" with an "over-the-top but intimate" sound.[35] 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."[36] Exclaim!'s Erin Lowers wrote that "If you've ever been handed lemons, you need Lemonade."[37] 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."[19] PopMatters writer Evan Sawdey felt few albums could ever be considered "as bold, complex, or resolute as Lemonade,"[20] and the BBC's Mark Savage noted that Beyoncé had become an albums artist, with a range extending beyond that of radio play.[38]

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 number one.[39] In the same week, Beyoncé became the first female to chart 12 or more songs on the US 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 by Taylor Swift's Speak Now album.[40] Additionally, Lemonade was streamed 115 million times via Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history.[41] The album slipped from number one to number two in its second week, selling 196,000 copies (321,000 with additional equivalent-album units).[42]

The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart selling 73,000 copies in its first week of release, with 10,000 equivalent sales (14% of the total sales) accounting for streaming, marking the largest ever for a number-one album since the chart included streaming.[43] The album marked the singer's third number-one album on that chart and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on May 6, 2016 for shipment of 100,000 copies.[43][44] All of the album's tracks also debuted in the Top 100 of the Official Singles Chart in the UK.[45] In Australia, Lemonade sold 20,499 digital copies to debut at the top spot and become Beyoncé's second consecutive number one album.[46] It received a gold certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 35,000 copies.[47]

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal.[48]

Lemonade – Disc one (audio)
No. Title Writer(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"  
  • Knowles
  • Dixie[a]
  • Delicata[a]
 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. Title Director(s) Length
13. "Lemonade"  
1:05:22
Sample credits[48]

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[49] 1
Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[50] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[49] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[49] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[49] 9
Brazilian Albums (ABPD)[51] 1
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[52] 1
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[53] 1
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[49] 3
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[49] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[54] 4
French Albums (SNEP)[55] 7
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[56] 3
Greek Albums (IFPI)[57] 7
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[58] 3
Irish Albums (IRMA)[59] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[60] 5
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[61] 1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[62] 1
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[63] 2
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[49] 1
Russian Albums (2M)[64] 2
Scottish Albums (OCC)[65] 1
South Korea International Albums (Gaon Chart)[66] 1
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[49] 2
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[67] 1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[49] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[68] 1
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[69] 1
US Billboard 200[39] 1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[70] 1

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[47] Gold 35,000
Canada (Music Canada)[71] Gold 40,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[44] Gold 100,000
United States 926,000[72]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
Various April 23, 2016 (2016-04-23) Streaming Parkwood [48]
April 24, 2016 (2016-04-24) Digital download
[73]
Poland May 6, 2016 (2016-05-06)
Sony Music [74]
United States
  • Parkwood
  • Columbia
 [75]

See also

References

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  72. ↑
    • 1st week Sales: 485,000 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    • 2nd week sales: 196,000 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    • 3th week sales: 153,000 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    • 4th week sales: 92,000 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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