«Hold Up» was the third single and was first released to contemporary hit radio stations in Germany and the United Kingdom on May 12, 2016, and was later serviced to radio in the United States on August 16, 2016. David Ehrlich, a film critic for IndieWire, placed Lemonade at number twenty-three on his Best Films of 2016 list. The film also samples work by Malcolm X, specifically an excerpt from his speech «Who Taught You to Hate Yourself», which is featured on the track «Don’t Hurt Yourself».

The film also contains references to African religion and spirituality, such as Yoruba ori body paint in «Sorry», allusions to the loa Erzulie Red-Eyes in «Don’t Hurt Yourself», and Beyoncé’s initiation into the Santería religion and embodiment https://xcritical.pro/ of the Yoruba orisha Oshun in «Hold Up». Beyoncé appears wearing a tignon, in reference to Louisiana’s tignon laws implemented in 1786 that limited African-American women’s dress in order to maintain the state’s racist social hierarchies. The film contains allusions to slavery, such as the House of Slaves’ Door of No Return in Senegal and the dungeons of Elmina Castle in Ghana, where slaves were taken before being shipped to the Americas.

• Beyoncé delivers a blistering a cappella performance on an outdoor stage in this urgent song about breaking free.
• On “Formation,“ the first single off of Lemonade, released in February, Beyoncé trumpeted the hot sauce she totes in her bag, proclaiming her strong Texas roots.
• University of Texas at San Antonio professor Dr. Kinitra D. Brooks uses the album as the entire framework for her course “Black Women, Beyoncé & Popular Culture.” Brooks views Lemonade as much deeper than anything the pop star’s done before.

Whatever she’s going through, she’s feeling it deep in these songs, and it brings out her wildest, rawest vocals ever, as when she rasps, “Who the fuck do you think I is? What does it mean for Beyoncé to drop a new surprise album on the world within days of a giant like Prince leaving us? The project is furious, defiant, anguished, vulnerable, experimental, muscular, triumphant, humorous, and brave—a vivid personal statement, released without warning in a time of public scrutiny and private suffering. The details, of course, are what make it so relatable, what make each song sting.

In 2013, Beyoncé released an autobiographical documentary called Life Is But a Dream, but critics derided it for being too controlled. You love her because you can’t quite get a hold of her. Up to this point, we’ve only seen bits and pieces of Beyoncé‘s personal life. Forget MTV and YouTube, Beyoncé dropped her videos on friggin’ HBO — the cable network that, for decades, has given its xcritical Saturday night over to Hollywood blockbusters. The visual half of Lemonade proved to be a game-changer in a different way.

Artist

The Weeknd brings his signature croon to this anthem about women who command attention and respect. The title of this song might be «Sorry,» but Beyoncé isn’t sorry at all. «Don’t Hurt Yourself» has a jagged rock edge and is the musical version of a steely raised eyebrow.

The Best Albums of 2016 So Far

The song was part of the set Beyoncé performed the following day at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. In June 2016, Matthew Fulks sued Beyoncé, Sony Music, Columbia Records and Parkwood Entertainment for allegedly lifting nine visual elements of his short film Palinoia for the trailer for Lemonade. It is divided into eleven chapters, titled «Intuition», «Denial», «Anger», «Apathy», «Emptiness», «Accountability», «Reformation», «Forgiveness», «Resurrection», «Hope», and «Redemption».The film uses poetry and prose written by British-Somali poet Warsan Shire; the poems 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». The Formation World Tour was ranked at number one and number two on Pollstar’s 2016 mid-year Top 100 Tours chart both in North America and worldwide respectively, with a total mid-year worldwide gross of $137.3 million from the first twenty-five shows (including $126.3 million from the first North American leg of the tour).

Following its April 23, 2019, release on all streaming services, Lemonade returned to the top ten on the Billboard 200 at number nine, while its only added song, the original demo of «Sorry», debuted at number nineteen on the US R&B Songs. According to Nielsen’s 2016 year-end report, it had sold 1,554,000 copies and 2,187,000 album-equivalent units in the United States. It remained at number two in its third week selling 201,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 153,000 were pure album sales. The album slipped from number one to number two in its second week, selling 321,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 196,000 were pure album sales. In the United States, Lemonade debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 653,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 485,000 were pure album sales. For the audacity of its reach and the fierceness of its vision in challenging our cultural imagination about the intimacies and complexities of women of color, we recognize Lemonade as a Peabody Award winner.—The George Foster Peabody Awards Board of Jurors

Don’t miss Beyoncé’s

Beyoncé sold more than 600,000 copies in three days, smashed iTunes sales records, and ushered in a new era of the “surprise release” from artists with similar gravitational pulls. The Queen @Beyonce just dropped her album and @RevoltTV has the news for you first!!! Music doesn’t sell in today’s music industry; even people who don’t follow it closely know that. That’s exactly what makes Lemonade such a bold artistic statement. The claim was that the performance was “anti-cop,“ because of its evocation of the Black Lives Matter movement. (Is that hot sauce actually hot sauce, or a bat? The Lemonade film suggests the latter.)

Track listing

With the sample, Beyoncé reappropriates the song that was written by Black people about black history. Beyoncé specifically moves away from her typical music roots to develop a more communal spotlight on artistic hoodoo with other Black female creatives. Other influences for Lemonade include literary work by Black women focusing on themes including African-American folklore (such as Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God) and Afrofuturism (such as Octavia Butler’s Kindred). The film envisions a space where there was never oppression of Black women, whereby Beyoncé and other Black women form a self-sufficient community in which they can heal together. The film also contains clips of everyday Black women from working class communities, bringing visibility to Black women who are often ignored and undermined by society.

Music Critic Top Ten Lists

• Miriam Bale for Billboard called Lemonade «a revolutionary work of Black feminism» as «a movie made by a black woman, starring Black women, and for Black women», in which Beyoncé is seen gathering, uniting and leading Black women throughout the film.
• The film uses poetry and prose written by British-Somali poet Warsan Shire; the poems 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».
• (Once upon a time, back in the Nineties, “No No No” was the only Destiny’s Child song in existence – but make no mistake, we could already hear she was Beyoncé.) She lives up to every inch of that superhero status on Lemonade.
• We already know the The Weeknd pops up in «6 Inch,» but this track also contains some musical Easter eggs, including a sample from experimental indie band Animal Collective’s song «My Girls.»
• The music draws inspiration from Black female blues musicians such as Shug Avery, Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who also used their personal trauma to empower Black women, as well as samples songs originally recorded by Black women, namely Memphis Minnie and Dionne Warwick, but whose most famous recordings are by male or white artists.

As well as relating the story of Beyoncé’s relationship with her husband, Lemonade also chronicles the relationship between Black women and American society. The sixth track «Daddy Lessons» acts as a turning point for the album, with Beyoncé linking Jay-Z cheating on her with her father Mathew Knowles cheating on her mother Tina. The songs were developed in a piecemeal fashion, with Beyoncé combining material that she had written herself with elements from other writers. Beyoncé oversaw all aspects of the writing and production process; co-writers MNEK and Jonny Coffer noted that she had a clear vision for how the songs should sound, consistently offering direction and suggestions to guide the creative process. «I hope I can create art that helps people heal. Art that makes people feel proud of their struggle. Everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform. Pain is not pretty, but I wasn’t able to hold my daughter in my arms until I experienced the pain of childbirth!»

Beyoncé is opening up more than ever before

Lemonade has been credited with reviving the concept of an album in an era dominated by singles and streaming, and popularizing releasing albums with accompanying films. Defying genre and convention, Lemonade immerses viewers in the sublime worlds of black women, family, and community where we experience poignant and compelling stories about the lives of women of color and the bonds of friendship seldom seen or heard in American popular culture. Kitty Empire of The Observer writes that «female endurance and pragmatism are celebrated with warmth, anger and wit on this astounding visual album» and that «it’s unlikely there will be many more albums this year that will unite high art and low in the same way as Beyoncé’s jaw-slackening latest».

She sings to joyful footage of families, couples, and home videos of herself with Jay-Z and her own family. A dancer begins dancing to the instrumental break, intercut with footage of women sitting under a large willow tree and having a communal dinner, and Winnie Harlow wearing a crown of thorns. This song is seen as a reflection of how Beyoncé’s relationship with her own father has had an influence on her own marriage and her daughters relationship with him. The film cuts back to a tunnel in Fort Macomb as Beyoncé sings «Daddy Lessons» and plays the guitar.

Lemonade features musicians Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, and bassist Mxcritical Miller, and sampling from folk music collectors John Lomax, Sr. and his son Alan Lomax on «Freedom». In general, Beyoncé also reappropriates genres that were influenced by African Americans that are now seen as predominantly white genres on Lemonade, such as rock in «Don’t Hurt Yourself» and country in «Daddy Lessons». However, on the closer «All Night», Beyoncé is seen above ground, walking on top of the ruins of the fort in an antebellum-style dress made in West African material, possibly inspired by artist Yinka Shonibare who is known for reappropriating «European import — the cloth — to remake symbols of European cultural dominance in the spirit of Africa».

Her heaven will be a love without betrayal. Rest in peace, my true love, who I took for granted. I think of lovers as trees … I don’t know when love became elusive. Her hands as gloves.

Lemonade’s major ballad is a breathtaking reflection on broken promises, and the video’s intimate scenes of Beyoncé and Jay-Z only make it more captivating. Music-xcritical, country-tinged Beyoncé is a total treat in this song about fathers and daughters. The accompanying video ends by zooming out on Beyoncé at the end of a darkened, red hallway, clad in rich brocades and standing in front of a burning house.

Mother dearest, let me inherit the earth. Your mother is a woman and women like her cannot be contained. You find the black tube inside her beauty case where she keeps your father’s old prison letters. Her hips grind, pestle and mortar, cinnamon and cloves.

Publications who included Lemonade in their top-five albums of the decade including Rolling Stone The Independent, New York Post, Billboard, Paste, The A.V. Club, WXPN The Key, Refinery29, Tampa Bay Times, Insider, The Young Folks, Genius, Variety, Uproxx, Noisey, The Independent, and The Wild Honey Pie. PopMatters writer Evan Sawdey felt few albums could ever be considered «as bold, complex, or resolute as Lemonade,» and the BBC’s Mark Savage, describing Lemonade as «an album with a complex narrative arc… that demands to be heard in one sitting», noted that Beyoncé had become an albums artist with a range extending beyond that of radio play. In The A.V. Club, Annie Zaleski wrote that it was «yet another seismic step forward for Beyoncé as a musician» that «pushes pop music into smarter, deeper places». In a five-star review for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield calls Lemonade «a welcome reminder that giants still walk among us», describing it as an «album of emotional discord and marital meltdown… from the most respected and creative artist in the pop game». «Sorry» was released as the second single and serviced to rhythmic adult contemporary radio in the United States on May 3, 2016, and its music video was uploaded onto Vevo on June 22, 2016. «Formation» was released as the first single exclusively on Tidal on February 6, 2016, along with its accompanying music video.

“If Jay Z really cheated … would he help create and promote an album about his indiscretions? If you don’t want to pay for a Tidal subscription, your only option for hearing and watching Lemonade is to purchase the album. Thus, making Lemonade a Tidal-streaming exclusive is both an economic ploy and an attempted artistic statement. Plus, it remains the best option for listeners who want music at a higher audio quality. It boasts an all-star roster of supporters; its first commercial featured a who’s who of musical talent — from Jack White and Daft Punk to Alicia Keys and Nicki Minaj. Instead, it aggressively targets music fans.