“I Was Served Lemons, But I Made Lemonade” - 'Lemonade': a Visual Album

 by George Cuthbert

“Lemonade”, Beyoncé’s 6th studio album, was released in 2016 alongside a 65-minute film which relates her husband’s infidelity in a generational and racial context. Although primarily an R&B album, it incorporates noticeable elements of hip-hop, soul, blues and reggae, which is appropriate as many of these genres were founded and made mainstream by African Americans (hence the motifs of racial discrimination throughout).

The first single that dropped from this album, “Formation” is arguably the most influential yet controversial track on the album, as it formed a rigid dichotomy amongst fans - between those in favour of Formation’s seemingly anti-police message and those against it. This led to police force boycotts at  her Super Bowl halftime show, which occurred shortly after “Formation” was released, as well as the hashtags “#boycottBeyoncé” and “IStandWithBeyoncé” trending on Twitter. Following this mostly negative response to her first single, Beyoncé publicly stated in an interview that “anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken” and that she has “so much admiration for police officers” which triggered mixed responses amongst people, with some suggesting that she only made these comments avoid drama and a potential decline in sales for her upcoming album, while others stood with Beyoncé when she said that she was “anti police brutality” rather than anti-police and regarded her statement as “genuine” and “sincere”.

Just over a month later, after the release of another 4 singles, “Lemonade” was released and was considered one of the greatest albums of all time. It was, at the time, and still is the most acclaimed studio album of Beyoncé’s career. This, in addition to the aforementioned film released alongside the album, was described as “a revolutionary work of black feminism” since the film was “a movie made by black women, starring black women, and for black women” uniting and empowering black women. An example of this is in the music video for the second track on the album, “Hold Up” where it begins with a monologue from Beyoncé describing how she “fasted for 60 days,” “abstained from talking” and “wore white,” which is a metaphor for succumbing to the societal oppression placed on black people. Later on in the video, however, the tone dramatically shifts to Beyoncé wearing a flowing yellow dress with a baseball bat in hand, joyfully walking down a street while breaking car windows and destroying shop fronts while bystanders, who are mostly African American, watch her with great excitement and pride. These are all examples of metaphors that represent the revolution against oppression and injustice towards black people that Beyoncé is trying to convey.

The antepenultimate track on this album, “Freedom”, nicknamed “Reformation”,  features Kendrick Lamar who is renowned for his lyricism and his use of wordplay to convey social criticisms and uplift those who face racial discrimination. The song plays off the themes of breaking free from oppression and coming back stronger, despite the struggles African Americans have endured in the past. With lyrics from Kendrick criticising “Channel 9” (an american news channel) by describing how media tends towards putting black artists in a bad light. Beyoncé’s verse plays around with similar themes, opening the song with the line “Tryna rain on the thunder, Tell the storm I’m new”. Although the “thunder” and “storm” may be metaphorical of the pain caused by the deception and infidelity coming from her husband, it could also be used to represent the cloud of racial oppression which has loomed over African Americans since the times of slavery. The song concludes with a sample from Jay-Z’s (Beyoncé’s husband’s)  grandmother, Hattie White’s 90th birthday speech, where she said, “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.” This is a play on the idiom, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” which is about turning a negative situation into a positive one, hence the name of the album “Lemonade” which was about turning a negative situation in Beyoncé’s life (her husband cheating on her) into a positive one (spreading black pride and wiping away oppression).