"Lemonade" is a song by American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

collective and record label Internet Money and American rappers Gunna and

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer. He emerged to fame in 2018 with the release of his debut mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', and his feature on the song "Can't Say" by fellow Houston rapper Travis Sco ...

featuring Canadian rapper Nav. It was released as the second single from Internet Money's debut studio album, '' B4 the Storm'', on August 14, 2020. The song was produced by Internet Money producers Taz Taylor,

Nick Mira Nicholas Warren Mira (born August 25, 2000) is an American record producer. He is the lead member of the record label Internet Money Records, which he co-founded in 2015 with fellow producer Taz Taylor. He worked with late American rapper Juice ...

, Alec Wigdahl, E-Trou, and Pharaoh Vice, who all wrote it with the rappers alongside John Mitchell, Jozzy, and Donny Flores. On September 14, 2022, it was included as the sole bonus track on Nav's fourth studio album, ''

Demons Protected by Angels ''Demons Protected by Angels'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian rapper Nav (rapper), Nav. It was released through XO (record label), XO and Republic Records on September 9, 2022. The album contains guest appearances from Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Bab ...

'', which was released five days before. The official music video premiered later the same day as the song on

Lyrical Lemonade Cole Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and record executive. He is the founder of Lyrical Lemonade. He has most notably collaborated with Juice Wrld on music videos such as " All Girls Are the Same", " Lucid Dreams" ...

and followed a ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' theme. The first remix of the song added a verse from Toliver along with another verse from fellow American rapper

Roddy Ricch Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr. (born October 22, 1998), known professionally as Roddy Ricch, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Compton, California, Moore rose to fame in 2018 following the release of his song "Die Young ...

, omitting Gunna and Nav; this was released on September 30, 2020, and was included on the complete edition of ''B4 the Storm''. The second and final remix, titled the Latin remix, adds Puerto Rican rapper

Anuel AA Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago (born November 26, 1992), known professionally as Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Often called "The God of Latin trap" by himself and major Latin artists. His music often contains samples and interpola ...

to the original song and was released on November 20, 2020. "Lemonade" peaked at number six on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Greece, and Portugal. The song also peaked within the top ten of the charts in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, which became the highest-charting single for all artists except for Gunna. The success of the song on social media, especially

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, during the

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

in 2020 was very influential to its chart success and viral status.

Background

"Lemonade" was first teased by Internet Money founder and producer Taz Taylor during an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Live video in June 2020. The same month, producer

confirmed a collaboration between Gunna, Don Toliver, and Nav on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, while Gunna also previewed the song on Instagram. The track was officially announced by the producers in a July interview with music video company

, who worked on the song's official music video. The song was conceived in 2017 by Taylor, Jozzy, and Johnny Yukon, and Toliver ended up on the song after their now-former record label,

Artist Partner Group Artist Partner Group, Inc. (APG) is an American record label and music publishing company founded by Mike Caren in 2013, who has since served as chief executive officer (CEO). The label's parent company, Artist Publishing Group, publishes its rele ...

, offered Taylor old songs by Toliver. He received the original and

a capella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

versions without Toliver's knowledge. Producer Only1Zay later added the guitar to the track. Taylor originally planned to have Toliver's label boss,

Travis Scott Jacques Bermon Webster III (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott has had five number-one hits on the U.S. ''Bil ...

, on the song, because the guitar melody reminded him of his single, "

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service ...

", which also featured both Gunna and Nav, from his third studio album, '' Astroworld'' (2018). The collaboration came to full circle when Gunna was added to the song, which then led to Nav's feature, due to Gunna's close relationship with Nav and the record label that he is signed to, XO. Toliver later gave his approval for the song. At the same time, Gunna and Toliver were working together with the former's DJ, Chase B, on the latter two's single, "Cafeteria", which was released exactly three weeks prior to "Lemonade". Gunna thought he had recorded a verse for only the former track, but Taylor said that Gunna actually recorded verses for both songs without knowing. "Lemonade" was finished and mixed in mid-2020 along with the rest of its parent album, ''B4 the Storm''. It experienced numerous leaks before being officially released.

Composition

Over a "bouncy", guitar-laden beat, the song sees Gunna and Nav delivering their "usual rockstar talk" on their respective verses, with Toliver performing both the pre-chorus and chorus.

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

's Wongo Okon noted how the artists are "fascinated by the shine and icy nature of their yellow diamonds" as they "relish in their successful careers".

Critical reception

Revolt Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

's Jon Powell called the song "infectious". Erika Marie of ''

HotNewHipHop ''HotNewHipHop'' (HNHH) is an online publication that covers daily news about hip hop and pop culture, including streetwear, sports, and Sneaker collecting, sneakers. In addition to its editorial content, HotNewHipHop also produces the video seri ...

'' gave it a "VERY HOTTTTT" rating, opining that with the "hitmaking trifecta" on the track, "it's sure to quickly be in heavy rotation among rap fans". ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

''s Jessica McKinney named it among the best releases of the week, and noted Gunna and Nav for being "emotional as they lay down intoxicating verses about their rags-to-riches stories and heavy drug use". Ryan Shepard of ''Def Pen'' called the track a "summer banger" and referenced the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, an ongoing pandemic at the time of the release of the song, stating that "you'll just have to enjoy it from your own backyard and patio".

Music videos

The official music video for the original version of the song was released later the same day as its release. It was directed by

Cole Bennett Cole Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and record executive. He is the founder of Lyrical Lemonade. He has most notably collaborated with Juice Wrld on music videos such as " All Girls Are the Same", " Lucid Dreams" ...

for his

channel. Bennett had listened to its parent album, ''B4 the Storm'', prior to the video shoot and expressed his love for "Lemonade". Internet Money producers Nick Mira and Taz Taylor recalled how cooperative Bennett and his team were despite the weather being very hot. The visual is reminiscent of the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

television show ''

'' and sees the artists living "lavish" lifestyles underwater as they swim in a fishbowl of lemonade. Gunna is sitting above in a boat fishing, while Toliver and Nav are seen around mermaids and other sea creatures.

's Jon Powell noted how they show off "futuristic old-school whips and high ends jewelry and threads to match". The music video for the remix with Roddy Ricch was released on October 27, 2020, on Internet Money's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. In the video, Taz Taylor and Nick Mira cruise around a city in a lemonade truck, giving out lemonade to people. The truck contains logos from Cole Bennett's association Lyrical Lemonade, who also directed the original music video. It also shows a banner promoting the song's parent album, ''B4 the Storm''. The video also contains cameos from Toliver himself and fellow American rapper and singer

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), better known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his 2018 country rap single "Old Town Road," the longest-running nu ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2020 singles 2020 songs Internet Money songs Nav (rapper) songs Gunna (rapper) songs Songs written by Gunna (rapper) Don Toliver songs Songs written by Don Toliver Songs written by Nav (rapper) Songs written by Nick Mira Song recordings produced by Taz Taylor (record producer) Songs written by Taz Taylor (record producer) Music videos directed by Cole Bennett UK singles chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Portugal Pop-rap songs