On Saturday night, Beyoncé teamed up with HBO to deliver her highly anticipated visual album, “Lemonade,” to her legions of fans. The result was a must-see television event for the entire Bey-hive.
Off the heels of her last self- titled visual album and world tour, it is no surprise that Queen Bey is back at work with her mini film antics. Her last surprise album turned into one of the biggest music conversations to date and ultimately solidified her legacy as an artist with little need for promotion.
Back in February, Beyoncé shocked everyone with her call-to-action anthem, “Formation,” causing hysteria over the possibility of another masterpiece from their leading songstress. Then when a Super Bowl commercial announced her world tour, the minor fan freak out grew to a full on panic.
Now, days away from the start of said tour, fans are rushing to memorize every lyric to her “Lemonade” set list that has become the album on everyone’s lips.
Keeping with tones from her previous album, “Lemonade” reflects an artist uncensored. In the album, Beyoncé devotes songs to topics like cheating, growing up a woman and racial tensions.
True to form, the Grammy winner sets her tunes to some insane visuals. She sings underwater, swings a bat around town, throws her wedding ring at the camera in a parking lot, gets sultry in the back of a cab and dances in New Orleans. In short, she basically proves she is perfect — or, rather, flawless.
However, with all of the smoke and mirrors, one could suggest this album is just another thoughtless product of the ever churning music industry, right? Wrong. Throughout the visual album, Beyoncé notes references from literature, poetry and even some of her own thoughts about deeper issues she wants to bring to the conversation.
With “Lemonade,” the music seems like an accent to a bigger dialogue that comes in the form of a cohesive art piece rather than a string of disconnected videos played one after the other. For that, Beyoncé gets an A+ — the music is a separate conversation.
On this album, Beyoncé has used a different sound that fans haven’t heard from the singer before. She is riskier now, and it shows through her sound. For fans looking for a part two of her first visual album, the search goes on. “Lemonade” completely separates from her previous album. Luckily for Beyoncé, she could record herself ordering take-out and her fans would buy it.
