HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Lemonade'' is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
. It was released on April 23, 2016, by Parkwood Entertainment and
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
, accompanied by a 65-minute film of the same name. It is a
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
with a
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
that relates Beyoncé's emotional journey after her husband
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
's infidelity in a generational and racial context. Primarily a pop,
art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...
,
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- ...
and R&B album, ''Lemonade'' encompasses a variety of genres, including
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
, rock,
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
, Americana,
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
,
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
, electronic, and trap. It features guest vocals from
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
,
the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...
, James Blake and
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...
, and contains samples and interpolations of a number of hip hop and rock songs. ''Lemonade'' was released to universal acclaim and has since been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. Critics commended the genre experimentation, production, Beyoncé’s vocals, and the political subject matter reflecting Beyoncé’s personal life. It was music critics' top album of 2016, and was named the greatest album of the 2010s by publications such as the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. The album topped ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'''s Greatest Albums of the 21st Century list, and was placed at number 10 on the Apple Music 100 Best Albums list and number 32 on ''Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The album was nominated for nine
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (2017), including Album of the Year,
Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...
and Song of the Year. It won Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video. The album's visuals received 11 nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, of which it won eight including Breakthrough Long Form Video and Video of the Year. The film also won a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
in Entertainment, and received four nominations at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Lemonade'' topped the charts in various countries worldwide, including the US ''Billboard'' 200, where it earned 653,000 with additional
album-equivalent units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...
, including 485,000 copies in its first week of sales. It has since been certified triple platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA). By the end of 2016, ''Lemonade'' had sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States, making it the third-best-selling album of the year in the US, and it was the best-selling album of 2016, according to the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...
(IFPI), with 2.5 million copies sold worldwide. The album was supported by five singles: " Formation", which was a top-ten hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, " Sorry", " Hold Up", "
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
", and " All Night". Four days after the release, Beyoncé embarked on The Formation World Tour, an all-stadium tour visiting North America and Europe.


Background

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released " Formation" for free on the music streaming service Tidal and an accompanying unlisted
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
on her official
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 ...
account. The unlisted format of the video meant it was inaccessible by search, and viewers could only watch it through others who had shared the video link, or through articles and webpages that embedded the video. Beyoncé later released an identical public version of the unlisted video on YouTube on December 9, 2016. Both videos still exist. The day after the song and video's release, Beyoncé performed "Formation" during her performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. Immediately after the performance, a commercial aired announcing The Formation World Tour, which kicked off in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
on April 27, 2016, with the first pre-sales going on sale just two days after the announcement on February 9, 2016. Beyoncé was both praised and criticized over her "Formation" and the
Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...
-influenced costume for her Super Bowl halftime performance. As a result of this, the
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
s "#BoycottBeyonce" and "#IStandWithBeyonce" began trending on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
platforms such as
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 ...
and Beyoncé faced boycotts from police unions. A group of protesters planned to stage an "anti-Beyoncé" rally outside of the NFL's headquarters in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, New York on the day general sale of tickets went for sale, but no protesters showed up; instead, dozens of Beyoncé supporters held a rally for her. When asked what she wanted to accomplish with the next phase of her career in an interview with ''
Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...
'', published on April 4, 2016, Beyoncé said: "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."


Recording and production

''Lemonade'' was recorded between June 2014 and July 2015 across 11 studios in the United States. Beyoncé had the idea to write each song corresponding to the eleven chapters that can be seen in the ''
Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored drink. There are many varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In some parts of the world, lemonade refers to an un-carbonated, traditionally, homemade drink, using lemon juice, water, and a sw ...
'' film, and posted moodboards around the studio representing each chapter to provide direction to her collaborators. Beyoncé and her collaborators also played music in the studio to inspire each other. The album was written in stages, with Beyoncé retreating to her home to work on the recordings with recording and mixing engineer Stuart White, as well as to take care of her daughter. The process began at the
Record Plant The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...
in Los Angeles, which the team used for a month. They then took a break, and later went to Paris for 45 days. The team stayed in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms, one for Beyoncé and one for
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
. Jay-Z recounted how he and Beyoncé recorded music both separately and together, describing it as "using our art almost like a therapy session" after his infidelity. The music that Beyoncé recorded separately was what became ''Lemonade'' and was released first. ''Lemonade'' was produced through Beyoncé's synthesis of the work of many collaborators, including both popular and lesser known artists. MNEK relayed how " Hold Up" was written, saying "The way Beyoncé works, the song is a jigsaw piece and then she will piece various elements. It could be a bit that she's written, a bit that someone else has written and she'll make that the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
; a bit I've written she'll make the middle eight". MNEK also explains that Beyoncé was "overlooking everything, saying ''"''I like this, I like that, this is how this should sound, this is how that should sound.''"''" " Don't Hurt Yourself" collaborator
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
describes how "she took just sort of a sketch of a lyrical outline and turned into the most bodacious, vicious, incredible song... I'm so amazed at what she did with it." "Hold Up" and " Sorry" co-writer and co-producer MeLo-X explains that "she has a way of creating that I've never seen before as an artist. She produces, alters and arranges tracks in ways I wouldn't think of." When talking about how he scored the ''Lemonade'' film as well, MeLo-X explains "She's hands on with everything. She gives direction on everything and is very involved with the whole process. It's inspiring to see an artist on that level be able to just still have an eye for certain things and an ear... We would just sit down and go over with different things and different scenes and sounds and kind of put it together piece by piece."


Themes

As a
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service provide ...
artwork, ''Lemonade'' relates the emotional journey of Beyoncé after her husband
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
's infidelity in a generational and racial context through its music, lyrics, visuals and poetry. The ''Lemonade'' album is a
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
(referencing the classical compositional genre defined in German
Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...
er by
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
,
Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
and
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
) that is performed as an elaboration of the Kübler-Ross model, with the tracks (excluding " Formation") corresponding to the eleven chapters of the ''Lemonade'' film: "
Intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning or needing an explanation. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledg ...
", "
Denial Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings: * the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true; * the refusal of a request; and * the assertion that a true statement is fal ...
", "
Anger Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experie ...
", "
Apathy Apathy, also referred to as indifference, is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic i ...
", "
Emptiness Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation, nihilism, and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression (mood), depression, loneliness, anhedonia, wiktionary:despair, despair, or o ...
", "
Accountability In ethics and governance, accountability is equated with answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public secto ...
", "Reformation", "
Forgiveness Forgiveness, in a psychology, psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may have felt initially wronged, victimized, harmed, or hurt goes through a process of changing feelings and attitude regarding a given ...
", "
Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...
", "
Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...
", and " Redemption". Melina Matsoukas, the director of the " Formation" music video, said that Beyoncé explained to her the concept behind ''Lemonade'', stating: "She wanted to show the historical impact of
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
on black love, and what it has done to the black family, and black men and women—how we're almost socialized not to be together." Beyoncé wrote on this in a 2018 '' Vogue'' article about the "generational curses" in her family, explaining that she comes "from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust", including a slave owner who married a slave. Beyoncé continues, writing "Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship. Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful." This theme is repeated throughout ''Lemonade'', with Beyoncé's grief, trauma and struggle being connected to that of her family's ancestors. 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 Mathew Knowles (born January 9, 1952)Knowles in is an American record executive, businessman and university lecturer. He is best known for being the manager of Destiny's Child. He also once managed the solo careers of his daughters Beyoncé a ...
cheating on her mother Tina. Towards the end of ''Lemonade'', Beyoncé reveals the meaning behind the title, showing Jay-Z's grandmother Hattie White saying "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade", and describing her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, as an "alchemist" who "spun gold out of this hard life" with the instructions to overcome these challenges passed down through generations like a lemonade recipe.


Black feminism

Miriam Bale for ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' 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. As well as relating the story of Beyoncé's relationship with her husband, ''Lemonade'' also chronicles the relationship between Black women and American society. This includes how the United States betrayed and continually mistreats Black women, with society needing to solve its problems in order to enable reformation and the rehabilitation of Black women. As part of reverting the societal oppression and silencing of Black women, ''Lemonade'' centralizes the experiences of Black women in a way that is not often seen in the media, and celebrates their achievements despite the adversity they face. "Don't Hurt Yourself" contains a quote from
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
in which he said "The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman". The Black female public figures that Beyoncé featured in the film all have successful careers despite experiencing misogynoir and racism in the media. 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. 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. ''Lemonade'' also defies and dismantles stereotypical representations of Black women as monolithic and angry Black women, instead attributing them complexity, agency, strength and vulnerability. To create ''Lemonade'', Beyoncé drew from the work of a wide variety of Black women who are often overlooked or forgotten. The music draws inspiration from Black female
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
musicians such as Shug Avery,
Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...
and
Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spirit ...
, who also used their personal trauma to empower Black women, as well as samples songs originally recorded by Black women, namely
Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being " ...
and
Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...
, but whose most famous recordings are by male or white artists. The visuals drew inspiration from works by Black feminists such as
Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American filmmaker, music video and commercial director, author, and website producer. Dash received her Master of Fine Arts, MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmm ...
's ''
Daughters Of The Dust ''Daughters of the Dust'' is a 1991 independent drama film written, directed, and produced by Julie Dash. It is the first feature film directed by an African-American woman to receive a theatrical release in the United States.Michel, Martin (No ...
'',
Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...
's '' In Search Of Our Mothers' Gardens'', and
Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...
's '' The Bluest Eye''. Other influences for ''Lemonade'' include literary work by Black women focusing on themes including African-American folklore (such as
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
's '' Their Eyes Were Watching God)'' and
Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture ...
(such as
Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...
's '' Kindred''). Beyoncé specifically moves away from her typical music roots to develop a more communal spotlight on artistic hoodoo with other Black female creatives. the


African-American culture

Beyoncé also uses ''Lemonade'' as a form of recognition, commemoration and celebration of the culture and history of Black people in the
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
and in the United States as a whole. 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. In " Love Drought", Beyoncé walks with her dancers into the sea, alluding to the Igbo Landing of 1803, where Igbo slaves took control of their slave ship, and rather than submit to slavery, marched into the sea while singing in Igbo, drowning themselves. 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 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 Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...
religion and embodiment of the Yoruba
orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The p ...
Oshun in "Hold Up". Allusions to New Orleans culture include "Queen of Creole cuisine"
Leah Chase Leyah (Leah) Chase (née Lange; January 6, 1923 – June 1, 2019) was an Americans, American chef based in New Orleans, Louisiana. An author and television personality, she was known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, advocating both African-Ameri ...
, the Edna Karr Marching Band, jazz funerals, Mardi Gras Indians and the Superdome. Beyoncé is seen with other Black women on plantations in ''Lemonade''. In the " Formation" video, the walls of the plantation houses are covered with
French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...
-style portraits of Black subjects; director Melina Matsoukas states that "films about slavery traditionally feature white people in these roles of power and position. I wanted to turn those images on their head." Towards the end of ''Lemonade'', Beyoncé and several Black women are on a plantation, with Chris Kelly for ''
Fact A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...
'' writing "Instead of an antebellum memory, these scenes portray a dream: the fantasy of an all-Black, matriarchal utopia when women dress up, prepare meals, take photographs and perform shows, not for a master but for themselves." Throughout the film, Beyoncé can be seen in Fort Macomb, a
Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...
stronghold that was taken over by one of the first all-Black Union Army units – the 1st Louisiana Native Guard – and eventually destroyed by
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
. On the central track "Daddy Lessons", Beyoncé is seen standing in a hideaway in the fort, alluding to the
Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
. However, on the closer "All Night", Beyoncé is seen above ground, walking on top of the ruins of the fort in an
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...
-style dress made in
West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
n 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". On " Don't Hurt Yourself", Beyoncé samples
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
's " When the Levee Breaks". However, the classic rock song was originally written by black
Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...
artists Kansas Joe McCoy and
Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being " ...
, with the song referring to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which displaced hundreds of thousands of African Americans. With the sample, Beyoncé reappropriates the song that was written by Black people about black history. 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 A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
in "Daddy Lessons".


Music and lyrics

''Lemonade'' features musicians
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
,
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...
, and bassist
Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sa ...
, and sampling from
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
collectors John Lomax, Sr. and his son
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...
on "Freedom". Beyoncé and her team reference the musical memories of all those periods, including a
brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
band, stomping
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...
, 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). The ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called the album a "surprisingly furious
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
about infidelity and revenge". The ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' described it as not just a mere grab for
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
dominance, rather it is a retrospective that allows the listener to explore Beyoncé's personal circumstances, with musical tones from the
southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
, a harkening back towards her formative years spent in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that Beyoncé "delights in her Blackness, femininity, and Southern origin with supreme wordplay." According to ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', the tracks "encompass and interpolate the entire continuum of R&B, rock,
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
,
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- ...
, pop, and
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
", accomplished by a deft precision "blurring eras and references with determined impunity." ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' both noted that the album touches on
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
, and ''Entertainment Weekly'' noticed the use of
avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elem ...
al elements. ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'' wrote that the genres span "from
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
to rock to R&B to trap"; On the album,
Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...
and
Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
are among the sampled artists. ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' 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. In 2020, Marc Hogan from ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' considered ''Lemonade'' among the great
art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...
albums of the last 20 years to "have filled the void of full-length statements with both artistic seriousness and mass appeal that was formerly largely occupied by ockguitar bands".


Title and artwork

There are two suggested inspirations for the title. The song "
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
" includes at its end an audio recording of Hattie White, grandmother of Beyoncé's husband
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
's, telling a crowd at her ninetieth birthday party in December 2015: "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade", referencing the proverb " when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" that encourages turning sourness and difficulty to something positive. Beyoncé also draws a connection to her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, using her lemonade recipe that was passed down through the generations as a metaphor for the mechanisms for healing passed through generations. The cover artwork for ''Lemonade'' is from the music video shot for " Don't Hurt Yourself" and features Beyoncé wearing cornrows and a fur coat, leaning against a Chevrolet Suburban and covering her face with her arm. In 2023, Joe Lynch of ''Billboard'' ranked it the 99th best album cover of all time.


Release and promotion

''Lemonade'' was first made available for
online streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
via Tidal on April 23, 2016, through Parkwood Entertainment and
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
, and for digital download the following day. It was released for CD and
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on May 6, 2016. A limited edition
box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...
titled ''How to Make Lemonade'' was made available for pre-order on August 18, 2017, containing a six-hundred-page
coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and which can serve to inspire conversation o ...
, featuring a set of pictures and
behind-the-scenes https://www Googlefinans.co= In filmmaking, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK ( ...
content showcasing the making of the album, and a double vinyl LP of ''Lemonade''. Standalone vinyl was released on September 15, 2017. ''Lemonade'' was initially only available to stream on Tidal, but was added to other streaming platforms on April 23, 2019, exactly three years after its release. The version of made available on other streaming services contains the original audio part of ''Lemonade'' as well as the original demo of "Sorry" as a bonus. Beyoncé had a goal to perform the entire ''Lemonade'' album live. Beyoncé performed "Formation" at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show as part of her guest appearance at the event, with critics lauding the performance and stating that she stole the show from headliners
Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
. The political symbolism in the performance also inspired many thinkpieces and discussions on their history and significance. Beyoncé performed "
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
" with
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...
as the surprise opening number at the BET Awards 2016, 2016 BET Awards on June 27. The performance began with an audio clip of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The performance was met with acclaim by critics. At the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, Beyoncé performed a sixteen-minute medley of "Pray You Catch Me", "Hold Up (Beyoncé song), Hold Up", " Sorry", " Don't Hurt Yourself", and " Formation", and included interludes of the poetry as heard in the ''Lemonade'' film. Critics noted that Beyoncé used political symbolism during "Pray You Catch Me", which included angel-like dancers in historical black hairstyles (such as Bantu knots, braids and dreadlocks) successively falling to the ground as though shot, alluding to Police brutality in the United States, police brutality, and a black man in a black hoodie catching, uplifting and pushing Beyoncé forward, alluding to Trayvon Martin, who was killed when wearing a black hoodie. On October 19, Beyoncé performed "6 Inch" and " All Night" at the Tidal (service), TIDAL X benefit concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. On November 2, Beyoncé performed " Daddy Lessons" with the Dixie Chicks at the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards (2016). The performance (which was the first featuring the Dixie Chicks in a decade after being blacklisted for their criticism of George W Bush in 2003) was widely praised by critics, but was met with criticism and racism by conservative country fans; this sparked conversations about the identity of country music and black people's place in it. Subsequently, a remix of " Daddy Lessons" featuring the Dixie Chicks was released. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, 2017, Beyoncé performed " Love Drought" and "Sandcastles (song), Sandcastles". Themed around motherhood, the five-months pregnant Beyoncé's performance is recognised by commentators to evoke various female deities and Renaissance art, Renaissance Art of Europe, European Christian art (such as Tintoretto's ''Last Supper (Tintoretto), Last Supper,'' Simone Martini's ''Maestà (Simone Martini), Maestà'' and depictions of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin of Guadalupe) and various non-European allusions such as Fula people, Fulani facepainting, Ethiopian art, Ethiopian icons, Medieval jewelry, Byzantine jewelry and Latin American art, Latin American Baroque painting. To promote ''Lemonade'', Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour which visited countries in North America and Europe from April to October 2016. The stage featured the Es Devlin-designed 'Monolith', a revolving seven-storey-tall box made with video screen walls that could shoot out fire and fireworks and split open, and which revolved during the show to represent a new chapter in line with the ''Lemonade'' film. The Formation World Tour was met with rave reviews from critics, such as Kat Bein for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' who described the show as "a prime example of entertainment and a vision of an artist at her apex" and "a visual feast as well as an emotional tour de force, packed with fireworks, confetti, rearranging stage designs and aerial dancers." The Formation World Tour won American Music Award for Tour of the Year, Tour of the Year at the American Music Awards of 2016, 2016 American Music Awards, was included in ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'''s 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years list in 2017, and was named the best tour of the decade (2010s) by ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'' in 2019. 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). In total, the tour grossed $256 million from forty-nine sold-out shows according to ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' box score, and ranked at number two on ''Pollstar'''s 2016 Year-End Tours chart.


Accompanying film

''Lemonade'' was accompanied by the release of a sixty-five-minute film of the same title, produced by Good Company (company), Good Company and Jonathan Lia, which premiered on HBO on April 23, 2016, logging 787,000 viewers. 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 film's cast features Ibeyi, Laolu Senbanjo, Amandla Stenberg, Quvenzhané Wallis, Chloe x Halle, Zendaya and Serena Williams. In "Forward", the mothers of Trayvon Martin (Sybrina Fulton), Shooting of Michael Brown, Michael Brown (Lesley McFadden), and Death of Eric Garner, Eric Garner (Gwen Carr) are featured holding pictures of their deceased sons. Jay-Z and Beyoncé's daughter Blue Ivy appears in home video footage at one point, as does Jay-Z's grandmother Hattie White, and Beyoncé's mother Tina Knowles, who is shown with her second husband Richard Lawson (actor), Richard Lawson on their wedding day in 2015. The film also samples work by
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
, specifically an excerpt from his speech "Who Taught You to Hate Yourself", which is featured on the track " Don't Hurt Yourself". The ''Lemonade'' film appeared on a number of critics' lists. ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' listed ''Lemonade'' at number one on their list of best music videos of 2016. It was also included on ''Sight & Sound''s best films of 2016 list at number twenty-six. David Ehrlich, a film critic for IndieWire, placed ''Lemonade'' at number twenty-three on his Best Films of 2016 list. Jen Yamato from ''The Daily Beast'' ranked it at number nine on her list of the Top 10 Best Films of 2016. In June 2016, Matthew Fulks sued Beyoncé, Sony Music,
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
and Parkwood Entertainment for allegedly lifting nine visual elements of his short film ''Palinoia'' for the trailer for ''Lemonade''. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed by New York federal judge Jed S. Rakoff, siding with the defendant.


Singles

''Lemonade'' consisted of five singles, three of which would become major hits. All twelve songs charted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Formation" was released as the first single exclusively on Tidal on February 6, 2016, along with its accompanying music video. The song was part of the set Beyoncé performed the following day at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. "Formation" peaked at number ten on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The music video for the song was uploaded onto Vevo in December 2016. "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. The single debuted and peaked at number eleven on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "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. It debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The music video for "Hold Up" was uploaded onto Vevo on September 4, 2016. The fourth and fifth singles released were "
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
" and "All Night", respectively. Both became moderate hits with the former (released September 2016) peaking at US number thirty-five, and the latter (released December 2016) peaking at US number thirty-eight.


Critical reception

''Lemonade'' received widespread acclaim upon release, and is considered to be Beyoncé's ''magnum opus''. At Metacritic, which assigns a Standard score, normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a weighted average score of 92, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In ''Spin (magazine), Spin'', Greg Tate calls ''Lemonade'' "a triumph of marketing and musicality, spectacle and song, vision and collaboration, Assimilation (Star Trek), Borg-like assimilation, and — as of 2013 — the element of Surprise album, surprise". Lauding both the film and album, Tate writes "Visually, literarily, choreographically, cinematically, this full accessing of her Southern bona fides shows up in the HBO project as ritual evidence that Bey's spent her downtime delving into the avant-garde mysticism of Black feminism, black-feminist poetry, novel writing, dance, gallery art, and film... The album, however, 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."
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
writer Andy Kellman called ''Lemonade'' "culturally seismic" through its "layers of meaning and references, and experienced en masse through its televised premiere", adding that "the cathartic and wounded moments here resonate in a manner matched by few, if any, of Beyoncé's contemporaries." In a five-star review for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', 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". Sheffield writes "''Lemonade'' is her most emotionally extreme music, but also her most sonically adventurous... Yet the most astounding sound is always Bey's voice", which is described as "her wildest, rawest vocals ever". Sheffield also compares ''Lemonade'' to Aretha Franklin's ''Spirit in the Dark'' and Nina Simone's ''Silk & Soul, Silk and Soul'' in the way that the album "reach[es] out historically, connecting her personal pain to the trauma of American blackness". Ray Rahman for ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' agrees, writing that ''Lemonade'' is "a raw and intensely personal plunge into the heart of marital darkness" as well as "a feminist blueprint, a tribute to women, African-Americans, and, especially, African-American women". Rahman further praises the diversity of the album: "[Beyoncé] can do rock,
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
,
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, whatever. ''Lemonade'' stands as Bey's most diverse album to date. Sinister strip-club-in-the-future R&B... sits right next to a slab of Texas twang.
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
and Soulja Boy become bedfellows." Alexis Petridis of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' wrote that the album "feels like a success" and that Beyoncé sounded "genuinely imperious". Petridis praises the musical arc of the album, commenting on how the music "slowly works itself up into a righteous frenzy of anger, shifting from the becalmed misery of opener "Pray You Catch Me" via the sparse simmer of " Hold Up"... before finally boiling over on the fantastic " Don't Hurt Yourself": a ferocious, distorted vocal as commanding as anything she's recorded". ''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." Nekesa Moody and Mohamad Soliman from ''The Washington Post'' called the album a "deeply personal, yet ... a bold social and political statement as well". 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". Greg Kot from the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' 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". Reviewing the album in ''The Independent'', Everett True wrote that it "is fiery, insurgent, fiercely proud, sprawling and sharply focused in its dissatisfaction", with Beyoncé "pick[ing] up the mantles of both" Prince (musician), Prince and Nina Simone. Writing for ''Slate (magazine), Slate'', Carl Wilson (writer), Carl Wilson describes ''Lemonade'' as "a spectacle to rival ''Thriller (album), Thriller''" and "a beautiful and often disturbing kaleidoscope of poetry, feminism, racial politics, history, mythology, emotional upheaval, family, and romance that can be watched again and again and will be for years to come". 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". Jillian Mapes of ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' wrote that "The increasingly signature cadence, patois, and all-around attitude on ''Lemonade'' speaks to her status as the hip-hop pop star—but this being Bey, she doesn't stop there... ''Lemonade'' proves Beyoncé to also be a new kind of post-genre pop star". In ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', Annie Zaleski wrote that it was "yet another seismic step forward for Beyoncé as a musician" that "pushes pop music into smarter, deeper places". Shahzaib Hussain, writing for ''Clash (magazine), 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." Sal Cinquemani of ''Slant Magazine'' wrote that the album "is her most lyrically and thematically coherent effort to date." Maura Johnston of ''Time (magazine), Time'' wrote that its tracks were "fresh yet instantly familiar" with an "over-the-top but intimate" sound. Jamie Milton of ''DIY (magazine), 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." ''Exclaim!''s Erin Lowers wrote that "If you've ever been handed lemons, you need ''Lemonade''", calling it "an album in which millions will find their own struggles reflected back to them, as therapeutic as it is utterly dazzling". Britt Julious of ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'' describes how "With nods to Louisiana Voodoo, Voudou and Southern Black gothic storytelling, ''Lemonade'', the visual album, wove chapters of emotional grief into a piece of art about the black woman... Separated from the visual, the album itself acts as dexterously as the film, exposing the rawest elements of Beyoncé's personal life while framing it against the universal — the machinations of internal paranoia, the all-consuming well of fury and anger, and the bottomless depths of sadness." Julious continues by praising the
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
nature of the album: "Taken as a whole, we hear the threads of this from song to song on the record. If ''Lemonade'' is a record about dismantling the cycles of abuse, ripping open the secrets we keep hidden (especially within the closely guarded black community), and finding healing, purpose, and even greatness in the process, then it is personified in the arcs of each track... The songs stand as joined entities, two dichotomous halves of the grief process". ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' 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.


Accolades

At the end of 2016, ''Lemonade'' appeared on a number of critics' lists ranking the year's top albums. According to the ''BBC'', it was the critics' top album of 2016, while according to Metacritic, it was the second most prominently ranked record of 2016, and the album that was listed at number one by the most publications (37 publications). ''Lemonade'' was ranked as the best album of the year by such publications as ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''Digital Spy'', ''The Independent'', ''The Associated Press'', ''The New York Times'' (Jon Pareles list), ''Los Angeles Times'' (Mikael Wood list), ''Pop Matters'', ''Pretty Much Amazing'', Idolator (website), Idolator, ''Stereogum'', ''Complex (magazine), Complex'', ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'', ''Wired (magazine), Wired'', and ''US Weekly''. ''Paste (magazine), Paste'', ''USA Today,'' ''NPR'' also included the release on their list of best albums of 2016. The album appeared within the top twenty of numerous publications year end lists including: ''Village Voice''s,''Slant (magazine), Slant'', ''Exclaim!'', ''Spin (magazine), Spin'', ''NME (magazine), NME'', ''Fact (UK magazine), FACT'', ''Drowned in Sound'', ''Uncut (magazine), Uncut'', ''Mojo (magazine), Mojo'', ''Q (magazine), Q'', and ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
''. ''Lemonade'' was named the best album of the decade (2010s) by ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'', ''The Associated Press'' and ''Spex (magazine), Spex''. ''Lemonade'' was also named the best music video of the decade by ''The Daily Beast'', as well as one of the best movies of the 2010s by ''Vox Media, Vox'' and the eleventh greatest film of the decade by ''Hyperallergic''. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' ''The Independent'', ''New York Post'', ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
,'' ''Paste (magazine), Paste,'' ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
,'' ''WXPN The Key'', and ''Refinery29'' declared ''Lemonade'' the second best album of the 2010s. ''Lemonade'' was named the third best album of the decade by ''Tampa Bay Times,'' ''Insider Inc., Insider'', and ''The Young Folks,'' while the ''Genius (website), Genius'' community and Chris Willman for ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' named it the fourth best one. ''Uproxx,'' ''Noisey,'' ''The Independent,'' and ''The Wild Honey Pie'' named ''Lemonade'' the fifth best album of the decade. ''Pitchfork'' listed ''Lemonade'' as the 41st greatest album of the decade. ''Time (magazine), Time'', Paper (magazine), ''Paper'', Stuff (website), ''Stuff'', and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' included the album in their lists of the best 10 albums of the decade. ''Lemonade'' was included in ''The Atlantic'''s "Time Capsule of the 2010s". ''Lemonade'' was included in ''Triple Js top 15 biggest music moments of the decade list. In January 2025, ''Lemonade'' was named by ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' as the greatest album of the 21st century. ''Consequence (publication), Consequence of Sound'' named Lemonade the second best album of the last 15 years (2007–2022). ''BBC Radio 4'''s named ''Lemonade'' the eighth greatest risk in 21st century art, with the judges saying that Beyoncé "resisted the commercial pressure not to be political in order to stand up for what she believed in and let audiences into her personal life as never before". ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' listed it at number 25 on their ranking of the 100 best albums of the 21st century. In 2020, ''AMG/Parade, Parade'' named ''Lemonade'' the best music video of all time. ''The Daily Telegraph'' named ''Lemonade'' the eighth greatest album of all time in 2025, with Neil McCormick describing it as a "bold, shapeshifting masterpiece channelling personal turmoil into visionary genre-hopping pop". Apple Music ranked ''Lemonade'' at number 10 on their list of the Apple Music's 100 Best Albums, 100 Best Albums ever created. On ''Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, ''Lemonade'' was placed at number 32, citing the album's exploration of "the betrayals of American blackness" and "all of the country's music traditions". On their list of the top 100 albums of the publication's existence, ''The Quietus'' named the project at number 9. In 2017, the album was ranked at number 6 on ''NPR''s list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. ''Consequence (publication), Consequence of Sound'' named ''Lemonade'' the 18th greatest album of all time. ''Paste (magazine), Paste'' listed the album at number 55 on their list of the 300 Greatest Albums of All Time. ''Lemonade'' is the 29th best album of all time by ''Metacritic'' score.


Awards

"Formation" won in three categories at the BET Awards 2016, 2016 BET Awards for BET Award for Video of the Year, Video of the Year, the BET Centric Award, Centric Award, and the BET Award for Viewer's Choice, Viewers Choice Award. At the BET Awards 2017, 2017 BET Awards Beyoncé was nominated in 7 categories and won 5, including BET Award for Video of the Year, Album of the Year, BET Award for Video of the Year, Video of the Year for " Sorry" and BET Award for Best R&B Artists, Best Female R&B/Pop Artist. The ''Lemonade'' film was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, including Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special, Outstanding Variety Special and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special. From the four categories, Beyoncé was nominated in the two mentioned. The album's visuals received eleven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. They included Breakthrough Long Form Video for ''Lemonade'', Video of the Year, MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video, Best Pop Video, MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction, Best Direction, MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing, Best Editing, and MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography, Best Cinematography for "Formation", MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video, Best Female Video and MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction, Best Art Direction for "Hold Up", and MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography, Best Choreography for "Sorry" and "Formation". Beyoncé went on to win eight of her nominations, including Video of the Year and Breakthrough Long Form Video. She received two nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan for MTV Video Music Award Japan for Album of the Year, Best Album of the Year for ''Lemonade'' and MTV Video Music Award Japan for Best Female Video, Best Female Video International for "Formation", eventually winning for Best Album of the Year. At the 2016 Soul Train Music Awards, Beyoncé was nominated for eight awards including Best Female Artist, ''Lemonade'' for Album of the Year, and "Formation" for Song and Video of the Year. Beyoncé went on to win all four awards. ''Lemonade'' won Best TV Show – Special or Limited Series at the African American Film Critics Association. At the 2017 NAACP Image Awards, ''Lemonade'' won NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album, Outstanding Album, "Formation" won NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Music Video, Outstanding Music Video, and "Freedom", featuring
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...
, won for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo or Group, Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song, Outstanding Song. At the 2016 ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards, ''Lemonade'' received the award for Best Awards or Event Special, as well as "Hold Up", "6 Inch" and "Denial" all being nominated for Best Short Format: Web Series, Music Video or Commercial. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, ''Lemonade'' received three nominations: Album of the Year, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Grammy Award for Best Music Film, Best Music Film. " Formation" received three as well:
Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...
, Song of the Year and Best Music Video. "Hold Up (Beyoncé song), Hold Up" was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Solo Performance, " Don't Hurt Yourself" for Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Performance and "
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
" for Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance, Best Rap/Sung Performance. Beyoncé went on to win two awards, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video for "Formation". ''Lemonade'' won a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
in Entertainment, along with the following description by the board of jurors:Blanchard, Margaret,
"Entertainment winners named for Peabody 30"
, Peabody, April 20, 2017.
Adroitly bringing together stories about betrayal, renewal, and hope, ''Lemonade'' draws from the prolific African-American literature, literary, Black music, musical, Black film, cinematic, and African-American art, aesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation. 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. This innovative and stunningly beautiful masterpiece challenges us to readjust our visual and sonic antennae and invites a reckoning with taken for granted ideas about who we are. 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


Commercial performance

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. This made the highest opening-week sales for a female act of the year. Subsequently, she broke the record she previously tied with DMX (rapper), DMX, by becoming the first artist in the chart's history to have their first six studio albums debut at number one. In the same week, Beyoncé became the first female artist to chart twelve or more songs on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at the same time, with every song on the album debuting on the chart. 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. It remained at number two in its third week selling 201,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 153,000 were pure album sales. ''Lemonade'' was certified RIAA certification, platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) in June 2016. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, Nielsen's 2016 year-end report, it had sold 1,554,000 copies and 2,187,000 album-equivalent units in the United States. 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. On May 20, 2019, the album was certified double platinum for shipments of two million copies, and triple platinum on June 13, 2019, for shipments of three million copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number one with sales of 33,000 copies. 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 began including streaming. The album marked the singer's third number-one album on the chart and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on September 9, 2016, for shipments of 300,000 copies. All of the album's tracks also debuted within the top hundred of the UK Singles Chart. As in the US, 2020 is the first year since release that the album has not appeared on the UK Chart. In Australia, ''Lemonade'' sold 20,490 digital copies in its first week, debuting atop the ARIA Charts, Australian Albums Chart and becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the country. It received a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2023, for sales of 140,000 equivalent units. ''Lemonade'' also peaked atop the charts in numerous European and Oceanic countries including Ireland and Belgium, where it spent five and seven weeks at the summit, respectively, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden. In Brazil, it debuted at number one and received a platinum certification from Pro-Música Brasil.


Legacy


Music industry

''Lemonade'' has been credited with reviving the concept of an album in an era dominated by singles and Streaming media, streaming, and popularizing releasing albums with accompanying films. Jamieson Cox for ''The Verge'' called ''Lemonade'' "the endpoint of a slow shift toward cohesive, self-centered pop albums", writing that "it's setting a new standard for pop storytelling at the highest possible scale". Megan Carpentier of ''The Guardian'' wrote that ''Lemonade'' has "almost revived the album format" as "an immersive, densely textured large-scale work" that can only be listened to in its entirety. Myf Warhurst on Double J (radio station), ''Double J'''s "Lunch With Myf" explained that Beyoncé "changed [the album] to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept". ''The New York Times'' Katherine Schulten agreed, asking "How do you talk about the ongoing evolution of the music video and the autobiographical album without holding up ''Lemonade'' as an exemplar of both forms?" Joe Coscarelli of ''The New York Times'' describes how "some brand-name acts are following Beyoncé's blueprint with high-concept mini-movies that can add artistic heft to projects," with Frank Ocean's ''Endless (Frank Ocean album), Endless'' and Drake (musician), Drake's ''Please Forgive Me (film), Please Forgive Me'' cited as examples of artists' projects inspired by ''Lemonade''. Other projects said to have followed the precedent that ''Lemonade'' set include The Lonely Island, Lonely Island's ''The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience'', Thom Yorke's ''Anima (Thom Yorke album), Anima,'' Sturgill Simpson's ''Sound & Fury (Sturgill Simpson album), Sound & Fury'', and Kid Cudi's ''Entergalactic (album), Entergalactic'', which were all albums released with complementary film projects''.'' Beyoncé's use of various genres on ''Lemonade'' has been credited with setting the precedent for music to transcend genre, with NPR writing that the album "leads us to this moment where post-genre becomes a thing". The use of various genres has also been credited with kickstarting the reclamation of certain genres by black people. " Daddy Lessons" has been credited as starting a trend of "pop stars toying with American West and Southern aesthetics," as well as setting the precedent for "The Yeehaw Agenda", the trend of reclaiming black cowboy culture through music and fashion. " Don't Hurt Yourself" has been credited with the reclaiming of rock by black women, with Brittany Spanos for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' writing that "the re-imagination of what rock can be and who can sing it by Beyoncé and her superstar peers is giving the genre a second life – and may be what can save it."


Contemporaries

Several musicians were inspired by ''Lemonade''. American rapper Snoop Dogg named his fourteenth studio album ''Coolaid'' (2016) after ''Lemonade.'' British girl group Little Mix cited ''Lemonade'' as an inspiration for their album ''Glory Days (Little Mix album), Glory Days'' (2016). American rapper Cardi B was inspired by ''Lemonade'' for her upcoming album, which she says is "going to have my ''Lemonade'' moments". Naming ''Lemonade'' one of her favorite albums ever, English singer-songwriter Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice said that it helped her to "put in more thought to what makes a good album flow". American singer The-Dream wrote a response to ''Lemonade'' titled "Lemon Lean" in his EP Love You to Death (EP), ''Love You to Death'', saying that the album changed the way people think about their relationships. American comedian Lahna Turner released a visual album entitled ''Limeade'' in homage to ''Lemonade.'' American singer Matt Palmer was inspired by ''Lemonade'' to create his visual EP ''Get Lost''. American musician Todrick Hall's second studio album ''Straight Outta Oz'' was made as a visual album due to ''Lemonade''. British singer-songwriter Arrow Benjamin was also inspired by ''Lemonade'' for his 2016 EP ''W.A.R. (We All Rise)'', saying: "Every piece on this project was created from a visual, so that's why I was extremely inspired when I saw ''Lemonade.''" Ann Powers for ''NPR'' opined that Fiona Apple was influenced by ''Lemonade'' when implementing black musical traditions on her 2020 album ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters'', while Jenna Wortham for ''The New York Times'' drew a parallel between both albums as "blueprints for how to take in all that emotion and kind of how to push it back out in a way that's cathartic and constructive". Dan Weiss of ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' wrote that Shania Twain's ''Now (Shania Twain album), Now'' "couldn't have existed without" ''Lemonade'', as an album that "completely changed the course of breakup album history" in which the artist is "someone at their full creative peak pushing herself into new niches, dominating new musical territories." Kadeen Griffiths from ''Bustle (magazine), Bustle'' states that ''Lemonade'', as an album that deals with issues related to black women, "paved the way" for Alicia Keys' ''Here (Alicia Keys album), Here'' and Solange Knowles, Solange's ''A Seat at the Table.'' Danielle Koku for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' stated that ''Lemonade'' aided the return of African mysticism to pop music, writing: "By taking African mysticism to the world stage, Beyoncé stripped it of its ancient pagan labels." Many critics have noted that
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
's thirteenth studio album ''4:44 (album), 4:44'' (2017) is a response to ''Lemonade'', with Jay-Z referencing lines from ''Lemonade'', such as the "You better call Becky with the good hair" line on Beyoncé's " Sorry", with Jay-Z retorting: "Let me alone, Becky" in "Family Feud". At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (2017), Adele dedicated her Album of the Year award to Beyoncé and said: "The artist of my life is Beyoncé... the ''Lemonade'' album, is just so monumental." In a 2021 interview with '' Vogue'', Adele claimed that Beyoncé should have won the said award instead of her. After the show, she went into Beyoncé's dressing room and "said to her, like, the way that the Grammy Awards, Grammys works, and the people who control it at the very, very top—they don't know what a visual album is. They don't want to support the way that she's moving things forward with her releases and the things that she's talking about." She revealed that the award she received in the mail was broken and that she wedged a lemon into the broken part, and went on to claim that, "[f]or [her] friends who are women of color, [''Lemonade''] was such a huge acknowledgment for them, of the sort of undermined grief that they go through." American musician Stevie Wonder called ''Lemonade'' "a great work, a great art piece". U2's Bono included "Freedom" in his "60 Songs That Saved My Life" project to celebrate his 60th birthday, writing: "In my 60 years, I was served many platters but rarely one like the Queen Bey's album ''Lemonade''."


Popular culture


Art and literature

''Lemonade'' has inspired artists in media other than music, including art, literature, film, television, and theatre. Misha Green, creator of the 2020 television series ''Lovecraft Country (TV series), Lovecraft Country'', described how ''Lemonade'' inspired the direction and flow of the show's score, saying: "What Beyoncé did on ''Lemonade'', with bringing in the poems and taking us on this collage of a journey, that wasn't just music and visuals. [It was] also words and using those words as a score." Bill Condon, director of the film ''Beauty and the Beast (2017 film), Beauty and the Beast'' (2017) says the visuals behind ''Lemonade'' inspired him for the movie: "You look at Beyoncé's brilliant movie ''Lemonade'', this genre is taking on so many different forms… I do think that this very old-school break-out-into-song traditional musical is something that people understand again and really want.". The Royal National Theatre's 2018 production of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra featured a costume inspired by ''Lemonade'', with costume designer Evie Gurney describing how she wanted to draw a parallel between Cleopatra and Beyoncé, as the latter is "a woman in the public eye who was subject to a lot of scrutiny [and] actually created a platform for herself to take back the narrative of her own story, and it was an extraordinary act of power." The character of Catherine of Aragon in the West End theatre, West End and Broadway theatre, Broadway musical ''Six (musical), Six'' was inspired by "''Lemonade''-era Beyoncé". Ellie Kendrick's 2018 play ''Hole'' at the Royal Court Theatre, Royal Court was described by its directors as "a stage version of Beyoncé's ''Lemonade'' album", as an artwork about feminism and historical oppression of women that consists of song, dance and spoken word. Fashion stylist Salvador Camarena paid homage to ''Lemonade'' by designing a room dedicated to the album during Modernism Week, saying "That album is such a visually stunning album. There are so many iconic looks from the video, I kind of wanted to implement that world into that room." The Young adult fiction, young adult anthology ''A Phoenix First Must Burn'' edited by Patrice Caldwell, which explores "the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic", has the aim of "evoking Beyoncé's ''Lemonade'' for a teen audience". A 2017 video game titled "Lemonade Rage" was created in homage to ''Lemonade'' and the "Hold Up" music video. The cover of Marvel Comics, Marvel's 2017 ''Miss America (America Chavez), America'' comic book paid homage to the "Formation" music video, with its illustrator saying "America is a comic that is all about representation, feminism and fighting for what's right... I could think of no better parallel than Beyoncé." Marie Claire named lemonade drop as one of the most influential pop culture moments of the 2010s.


Trends

Sales for Warsan Shire's chapbook "Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth" increased by 700 to 800% after her poetry was included in the ''Lemonade'' film. Beyoncé's mention of Red Lobster in "Formation" increased sales at the restaurant chain by 33%, which made employees rename popular menu items after Beyoncé and call the effect the "Beyoncé Bounce". Designers of the costumes that Beyoncé wore in the ''Lemonade'' film spoke with ''Complex (magazine), Complex'' about the impact that this had on their careers; for example, Natalia Fedner, who designed Beyoncé's dress for "Hold Up", stated that because of the dress's inclusion in Lemonade, "I was on 'Entertainment Tonight' being hailed as a 'designer to watch'." The inclusion of imagery from the 1991 film ''Daughters of the Dust'' in the visuals for ''Lemonade'' helped bring the film back to theatres, with director
Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American filmmaker, music video and commercial director, author, and website producer. Dash received her Master of Fine Arts, MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmm ...
stating that ''Lemonade'' "just took me places that I had not been seeing in a long, long time. It just re-confirmed a lot of things that I know to be true about visual style and visual metaphors. And the use of visual metaphors in creating, redefining, and re-framing a Creole culture within this new world." The popular "Lemonade braids" hairstyle worn by black women is named after a hairstyle that Beyoncé wore in ''Lemonade''. Georgia Murray for ''Refinery29'' sourced the 2020 fashion trend of wearing yellow to ''Lemonade'', writing that Beyoncé's yellow dress in "Hold Up" "kickstarted an obsession with yellow that we're still seeing the effects of today". The use of the lemon and bee emojis increased due to the release of Lemonade, with a
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 ...
spokesperson telling ''Time (magazine), Time:'' "Before ''Lemonade'', the lemon emoji had no meaning. Since the launch of ''Lemonade'', the emoji has taken on a meaning of its own". The MTV Video Music Award for Best Long Form Video, MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Long Form Video, which Beyoncé ultimately won at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, was reintroduced after 25 years due to the ''Lemonade'' film.


Parodies and homages

''Lemonade'' was parodied and was paid homage to in various media. In an episode of ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' titled "Kimmy's Roommate Lemonades!", character Titus Andromedon parodied the videos for "Hold Up", "Sorry" and "All Night" after he suspects his boyfriend of infidelity, coining the term "Lemonading". This episode was subsequently nominated for two Emmy Awards: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics for the "Hold Up" parody "Hell No", and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series for Tituss Burgess. The "Hold Up" music video was also paid homage to in ''The Simpsons,'' ''Making a Scene with James Franco'', ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show,'' ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,'' and ''The Daily Show.'' ''Saturday Night Live, SNL'' produced two sketches on ''Lemonade'': one entitled "The Day Beyoncé Turned Black" after Beyoncé released the "unapologetically black" "Formation", and the other entitled "Melanianade" which parodied the "Sorry" music video featuring impersonations of Donald Trump's female family members and aides. In a ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' sketch titled "Beyoncé Lemonade Late Night Aftermath", females staffers empowered by ''Lemonade'' paid homage to the visuals, costumes, songs and poetry featured in the film. ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' produced a parody entitled "Lemonjames: A Visual Monologue", where James Corden gave his monologue by recreating parts of the ''Lemonade'' film such as the "Pray You Catch Me", "Don't Hurt Yourself" and "6 Inch" music videos. Actress Goldie Hawn and comedian Amy Schumer produced a parody of "Formation". The Season 2 premiere of ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' featured a musical number that was an homage to ''Lemonade'', including parodies of "Formation" and "Pray You Catch Me". For Beyoncé's 36th birthday, various black female public figures recreated a costume that Beyoncé wore in the "Formation" music video, including Michelle Obama and Serena Williams. The first episode of British comedian James Acaster's 2020 podcast titled ''Perfect Sounds'' (in which Acaster discusses why 2016 was the greatest year in music with various comedians) featured Romesh Ranganathan and focused on "the genius of ''Lemonade''".


Intellectual response

''Lemonade'' has also received notable attention from scholars and authors outside the music industry. In partnership with the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, a talk at Seminole State College of Florida, Seminole State College "discussed how Beyoncé embodies the conjure woman in her iconic audiovisual work ''Lemonade'' as a contemporary revision of
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
's groundbreaking study of conjure and its place in Black women's spirit work." Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) announced "The ''Lemonade'' Project", a twelve-month series of conversations centered around the visual album. The series will explore the themes of race, gender and class addressed by the album. Kinitra Brooks and Kameelah Martin have produced "The Lemonade Reader", described as "an educational tool to support and guide discussions of the visual album at postgraduate and undergraduate levels, [which] critiques ''Lemonade'''s multiple Afrodiasporic influences, visual aesthetics, narrative arc of grief and healing, and ethnomusicological reach." University of Texas at Austin professor Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley, Omise'eke Tinsley wrote a book entitled ''Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism'' that was released in 2018, which "analyzes Beyoncé's visual album, ''Lemonade'', in relation to the sexuality and gender of Black women". University at Albany, SUNY, University of Albany professor Janell Hobson produced a lesson plan based on her class on ''Lemonade'', saying "Beyoncé's ''Lemonade'' stimulates class discussions and assignments as a highly visible pop project striving to create deeper conversations on the meanings of Blackness, womanhood, and feminism." Dissect (podcast), Dissect Podcast have since dedicated their sixth season to "Beyoncé's masterwork ''Lemonade''." The host, Cole Cuchna and cohost Titi Shodiya, "make leaps of interpretative wonder, fusing insights, music theory, instrumentation, and lyric interpretation with social analysis to empower fans to build deeper connections with Beyoncé's artistry."


Race and identity

In a 2020 ''The New York Times, New York Times'' article titled "The African-American art, African-American Art Shaping the 21st Century", which contained 35 prominent black artists talking about the work that inspires them most, American actress Kerry Washington relayed about ''Lemonade'' as a game changer "visually, musically, but also sociopolitically, and anthropologically. The release of "Formation" and the consequent performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show caused both conversation and controversy due to its "unapologetic Blackness". Many articles and think pieces were produced discussing the importance and meaning of the song and performance, such as the BBC, who produced an article entitled "Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance: Why was it so significant?", and ''TheWrap'', who produced an article entitled "Why Beyoncé's 'Formation' Matters So Much: A Perfectly Choreographed Political Debut Before 112 Million." ''Lemonade'' as a whole also inspired many think pieces, particularly written by black women, that analyze the messages and significance of the album, such as Miriam Bale for ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' who named ''Lemonade'' "a revolutionary work of black feminism". Megan Carpentier of ''The Guardian'' named the album "a pop culture phenomenon" and wrote: "It is not an exaggeration to say that there is no other living musical artist who could ignite such a broad and unavoidable conversation just by releasing a new album – even a visual one." Writing in the same publication, Syreeta McFadden noted that the " Formation" video depicts archetypal southern Black women "in ways that we haven't seen frequently represented in popular art or culture". Melissa Harris-Perry of ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine said that "Beyoncé publicly embraced explicitly feminist Blackness at a politically risky moment." Candace McDuffie of Glamour (magazine), Glamour said with Lemonade, the poignant magnum opus about the dynamic beauty of Black womanhood,
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
became the cultural zeitgeist and reinforced the idea that anything she does causes pandemonium on a global scale.


Academic study

Since its release, the album has spawned a large syllabus of literature and academic studies. The University of Texas at San Antonio offered a class in the Fall of 2016 based on the album. The course, titled "Black Women, Beyoncé and Popular Culture", explored how the visual album "is a meditation on contemporary Black womanhood," before advancing and diving into the "theoretical, historical, and literary frameworks of Black feminism," according to the syllabus. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosted a "Lemonade Week" in April 2017, which featured discussions on feminism, theatrical performances, celebrations of African-American women writers and poets, and choreography tutorials. Harvard University hosted "The Lemon Drop": a discussion that explored the nuances of ''Lemonade.'' University of Arkansas offered a course that analysed the influence of Black feminism on Beyoncé and ''Lemonade.'' University of Pennsylvania ran two courses that explored politics, race and gender through the study of ''Lemonade''. Michigan State University hosted a discussion on ''Lemonade'' as part of their series for "exchanging ideas and exploring the lived experiences of underrepresented and marginalized communities". Chatham University based a writing class on ''Lemonade'', where "students get to examine how they fit into the power systems around them". Valdosta State University offered a course on ''Lemonade'', "unpacking the many themes found in "Lemonade", including Black identity, feminism, marital infidelity, sisterhood, and faith." The College of Charleston hosted a discussion by Black feminist scholars, exploring "Beyoncé's use of southern landscape, Black women, music, and African-based spirituality". University of North Georgia offered a class entitled "Okay, Ladies, Now Let's Get in Formation: Intersectional Feminism in Beyoncé's Lemonade" that explored the music, lyrics and visuals of ''Lemonade''.


Track listing

;Notes * Visual edition was released on CD/DVD, digital download and Tidal. CD/DVD edition does not include "Sorry" (original demo). Tidal edition additionally includes "Formation" (choreography version) video. * signifies a co-producer. * signifies an additional producer. * signifies an additional Film director, director.


Sample credits

* "Hold Up" ** contains elements of "Can't Get Used to Losing You", performed by
Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
, written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman ** embodies portions of "Turn My Swag On", performed by Soulja Boy, written by Soulja Boy, DeAndre Way, Antonio Randolph and Kelvin McConnell ** contains elements of "Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs song), Maps", performed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, written by Brian Chase, Karen Orzolek and Nick Zinner. * "Don't Hurt Yourself" ** features samples from "When the Levee Breaks#Led Zeppelin version, When the Levee Breaks", performed by
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, written by Jimmy Page, James Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and John Bonham. * "6 Inch" ** embodies portions of "My Girls (Animal Collective song), My Girls", performed by Animal Collective, written by Avey Tare, Dave Portner, Panda Bear (musician), Noah Lennox and Geologist (musician), Brian Weitz ** contains samples from "Walk On By (song), Walk On By", performed by
Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...
, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. * "Freedom" ** contains a sample of "Let Me Try", performed by Kaleidoscope, written by Frank Tirado ** contains a sample of "Collection Speech/Unidentified Lining Hymn", performed by Reverend R.C. Crenshaw, recorded by
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...
** contains a sample of "Stewball", performed by Prisoner "22" at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, recorded by Alan Lomax and John Lomax, Sr. * "All Night" ** contains elements of "Aquemini, SpottieOttieDopaliscious", performed by OutKast, written by André Benjamin, Antwan Patton and Sleepy Brown, Patrick Brown. * "Sorry (original demo)" ** interpolates "Young, Wild & Free", as performed by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa featuring Bruno Mars. * ''Lemonade'' ** contains a sample of "The Court of the Crimson King", performed by King Crimson, written by Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield.


Personnel

Credits from the album's liner notes, Beyoncé's official website, and Spotify ;Musicians *
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
– vocals *
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
– vocals & bass guitar * The Weeknd – vocals * James Blake – vocals & piano ; Jupiter bass *
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...
– vocals * MeLo-X – background vocals * Ruby Amanfu – background vocals * Suga Mama (band), Chrissy Collins – background vocals * Belly (rapper), Belly – additional vocals * Arrow Benjamin – background vocals * Diplo – background vocals ; drum programming * King Henry (producer), King Henry – background vocals, drum programming & guitar * Jr Blender – drum programming & guitar * Derek Dixie – drum programming ; additional instrumentation ; drums & band session leading ; horns arrangement * Mike Dean (record producer), Mike Dean – drum programming & keyboards * Patrick Keeler – drums * Jon Brion – string arrangements * Eric Gorfain – strings & orchestrations * Daphne Chen – strings * Charlie Bisharat – strings * Josefina Vergara – strings * Songa Lee – strings * Marisa Kuney – strings * Neel Hammond – strings * Susan Chatman – strings * Katie Sloan – strings * Amy Wickman – strings * Lisa Dondlinger – strings * Terry Glenny – strings * Ina Veli – strings * Gina Kronstadt – strings * Yelena Yegoryan – strings * Radu Pieptea – strings * Crystal Alforque – strings * Serena McKinney – strings * Leah Katz – strings * Alma Fernandez – strings * Rodney Wirtz – strings * Briana Bandy – strings * Anna Bulbrook – strings * Grace Park – strings * Richard Dodd – strings * John Krovoza – strings * Ira Glansbeek – strings * Vanessa Fairbairn-Smith – strings * Ginger Murphy – strings * Adrienne Woods – strings * Denise Briese – strings * Ryan Cross – strings * Geoff Osika – strings * Fats Kaplan – strings * Lindsey Smith-Trestle – strings * Mark Watrous – strings & Hammond organ * Randolph Ellis – horns * Peter Ortega – horns * Christopher Gray – horns * Richard Lucchese – horns * Patrick Williams – harmonica * Eric Walls – guitar * Courtney Leonard – bass *
Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sa ...
– bass * Jack Chambazyan – synths * Boots (musician), Boots – synth arrangement ; additional programming * B. Carr – additional programming * Too Many Zooz – additional instrumentation * Myles William – additional programming * Matt Doe – trumpet * Swae Lee – ad-libs * Big Freedia – additional background ad-libs * Kevin Garrett (musician), Kevin Garrett – piano * Vincent Berry II – piano * Canei Finch – additional piano ;Technical * Beyoncé – vocal production ; executive production * Greg Koller – string engineering ; keyboard engineering ; bass engineering * Stuart White – recording & engineering ; mixing ; additional production * Vance Powell – recording * Joshua V. Smith – recording, additional overdubs & Pro Tools editing recording * Ramon Rivas (musician), Ramon Rivas – second engineering * Mike Dean (record producer), Mike Dean – engineering * Derek Dixie – assistant recording engineering * Eric Caudieux – Pro Tools editing recording ; keyboard recording * Jon Shacter – engineering assistance * Lester Mendoza – additional instrumentation recording ; band recording engineering ; horn recording * Ed Spear – additional studio assistance * Tony Maserati – mixing * Jaycen Joshua – mixing * John Cranfield – assistant recording engineering , assistant mix engineering * Tyler Scott – assistant mix engineering * James Krausse – assistant mix engineering * Miles Comaskey – assistant mix engineering * Arthur Chambazyan – assistant mix engineering ; studio assistance * David Nakaji – assistant mix engineering * Maddox Chhim – assistant mix engineering * Dave Kutch – mastering * Teresa LaBarbera Whites – A&R executive


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


Certifications and sales


Release history


See also

* Album era * List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2016, List of ''Billboard'' 200 number-one albums of 2016 * List of Billboard number-one R&B/hip-hop albums of 2016, List of ''Billboard'' number-one R&B/hip-hop albums of 2016 * List of number-one albums of 2016 (Australia) * List of number-one albums of 2016 (Belgium) * List of number-one albums of 2016 (Canada) * List of number-one albums of the 2010s (Czech Republic) * List of number-one albums of 2016 (Ireland) * List of number-one albums in Norway * List of number-one albums of 2016 (Portugal) * List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s * List of UK R&B Albums Chart number ones of 2016


Notes


References


External links

*
Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' and Information Resources
a Resource Guide from the Maryland Institute College of Art * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemonade (Beyonce album) 2016 albums Albums produced by Diplo Albums produced by Jack White Albums produced by Just Blaze Albums produced by Mike Will Made It Albums produced by James Blake (musician) Albums produced by Marcus Miller Albums recorded at Record Plant (Los Angeles) Art pop albums Beyoncé albums Columbia Records albums 2010s concept albums Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album Albums produced by Beyoncé Parkwood Entertainment albums Surprise albums