"Lemonade" is a song by American hip hop collective and record label

Internet Money Internet Money Records, often credited as Internet Money, is an American record label and record producer collective. It was founded by American record producer Taz Taylor, who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO). The producer collecti ...

featuring rappers Gunna,

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He released his first major label mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', in August 2018. He is known for his singles "No Idea (song), No Idea" and "After Party ...

and Nav. It was released on August 14, 2020 as the second single from Internet Money's debut studio album, '' B4 the Storm'', and later included as a 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 ...

'' (2022). In this "bouncy", "summer" song, Toliver uses identical lines from Lemonade by

Jozzy Jocelyn Donald, also known as "Jozzy", is an American songwriter best known for co-writing "Old Town Road" (remixes 1-3), "Lemonade", " Mr. Right Now" and "Virgo's Groove", among others. In May 2022, Jozzy was announced as the first signee of Di ...

in the pre-chorus and chorus of the song. The music video premiered along with the song on

Lyrical Lemonade Cole Michael Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American business executive, videographer, and music video director. His multimedia company, Lyrical Lemonade, started in 2013 as an internet blog while he was in high school. Early life Cole Be ...

and followed a ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

'' theme. A remix of the song, with

Roddy Ricch Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr. (born October 22, 1998), known professionally as Roddy Ricch, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame in 2018 with his single, "Die Young", which peaked at number 98 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. R ...

, was released on September 30, 2020, along with a second remix adding

Anuel AA Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago (born November 26, 1992), known professionally as Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His music often contains samples and interpolations of songs that were popular during his youth. He is seen as a controv ...

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 Internet Money, Don Toliver, and Nav. The pre-chorus and chorus of the song have had significant use as backing music on the popular short-form video sharing platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, with more than 463,000 videos being created using the song as of the 20th of February 2023. This success on social media during the

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

in 2020 was very influential to the song's chart success and viral status.

Background

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

Instagram Live Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

session in June 2020. The same month, producer

Nick Mira Nicholas Warren Mira (born August 25, 2000) is an American record producer from Richmond, Virginia, who is part of the producer collective Internet Money, a record label he co-founded with fellow producer Taz Taylor. He gained notoriety for dev ...

confirmed a collaboration between the three artists on Twitter, while Gunna also previewed the song on his Instagram. The track was officially announced by the producers in a July interview with

, who worked on the song's official video. The song was conceived in 2017 by Taylor and artist-producers Jozzy and Johnny Yukon. Toliver ended up on the song after their label APG offered Taylor old records by Toliver. He received the original,

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

version, without Toliver's knowledge. Producer and writer Alec Wigdahl then added the guitar to the track. Taylor originally planned to have Toliver's label boss Travis Scott on the song, because the guitar melody reminded him of Scott's 2018 song, "

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

", which also featured Gunna and Nav. The collaboration came to full circle when Gunna was added, which then led to Nav's feature, due to Gunna's close relationship with Nav and his record label XO. Eventually, Toliver gave his blessing for the song. At the same time, Toliver and Gunna were working with his DJ Chase B on a song called "Cafeteria", which was released just weeks prior to "Lemonade". Gunna believed he had recorded a verse for the former track, but Taz Taylor stated Gunna luckily recorded the verses for both songs. "Lemonade" was finished and mixed in mid-2020 along with the rest of the album. It experienced numerous leaks before being officially released. Gunna and Nav have collaborated eight previous times, including on "

" and "

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

" (both with Travis Scott). Other collaborations include "Codeine" by Nav and "Nothing 4 Free" by Gunna.

Composition

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

Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...

'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's Jon Powell called the song "infectious". Erika Marie of ''HotNewHipHop'' 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

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

Remixes

On September 29, 2020, the official remix of the song was released with fellow American rapper

. It contains a verse from Toliver that was intended to be on the original version but was canceled for unknown reasons. The remix was released without Gunna and Nav's verses, and instead contains Toliver's original verse and Ricch's new verse. On November 20, 2020, a Latin remix of the track adding Puerto Rican rapper

was released. The remix brings back Nav and Gunna's verses from the original, as well as a Spanish verse sung by Anuel.

Music video

The music video was released alongside the song. It was directed by

Cole Bennett Cole Michael Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American business executive, videographer, and music video director. His multimedia company, Lyrical Lemonade, started in 2013 as an internet blog while he was in high school. Early life Cole Be ...

for his

channel. Cole had listened to '' 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 (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

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 Don Toliver and Nav are seen around mermaids and other sea creatures. Revolt'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 was released on October 27, 2020, on Internet Money's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. In the video, Taz Taylor and Nick Mira cruise around a city in a

lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using le ...

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 Internet Money's debut studio album, ''B4 the Storm'', for which the original song appears and the remix appears as part of the complete edition. The video also contains cameos from Don Toliver himself and rapper and singer

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

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