![]() ![]() Social media would take care of that for her. On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé released Beyoncé, a full album, complete with videos for all 14 songs, without promotion or any prior announcement. You can probably guess where this is going. And most importantly, they required a release date, which heightened anticipation by giving fans a specific day to look forward to. Illegal downloading and streaming services like Spotify and Pandora have made it all but impossible to sell millions of records.īefore the internet, albums required months of promotional hype - singles, in-store appearances, radio and TV interviews. Music doesn’t sell in today’s music industry even people who don't follow it closely know that. ![]() Without anything left to prove (and a lot more money in the bank), Beyoncé is taking her greatest creative risks yet - and seeing them pay off.īut speaking of money in the bank… Beyoncé rewrites the music industry's rules with her every release Much like rapper Kendrick Lamar did on his landmark album To Pimp a Butterfly, Beyoncé proclaims her ethnicity with refreshing gusto, offering a raw stance on who she is and where she's from, beyond the hit songs and albums for which we already know her. Yet Lemonade goes further than these sorts of side references. "You know we used to sneak and listen to that UGK." That's exactly what makes Lemonade such a bold artistic statement.īeyoncé hinted that she was headed in this direction in 2013’s "Bow Down / I Been On": "I remember my baby hair with my dookie braids," she recalled. But the larger implication was that by embracing her blackness, Beyoncé was no longer trading in generic pop. The claim was that the performance was "anti-cop," because of its evocation of the Black Lives Matter movement. Perhaps tellingly, some observers criticized Beyoncé’s Super Bowl 50 halftime performance of the song, in which her backup dancers wore Black Panther-style outfits. In it, Bey also shouts out customarily black facial features: "I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros / I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils." References to collard greens and cornbread - considered "soul food" by stereotypical standards - pop up elsewhere in the song.īut Beyoncé's embrace of her identity on "Formation" goes beyond food. Yet her embrace of this image is also relatively new (though it's been growing for the last several years). Previously, Beyoncé often made pop music that catered to all listeners - single and taken ladies alike, fans of many different musical genres - but never before Lemonade has she offered anything tailored so directly to black, and specifically black female, listeners. Lemonade is the Beyoncé album that most overtly embraces her blacknessīeyoncé has often been seen as an example of black feminism, suggesting to women of color that it's best to set one's own course and buck societal conformity. And, as with all of her recent work, she does it on her own terms, embracing the creative freedom that so few people enjoy. Beyoncé opens herself more, gets more personal. Lemonade is a tough listen, tinged in rock, hip-hop, R&B, and electro-soul. Sure, she’d address "real" issues, but she’d focus more on big pop anthems that went down easy. In years past, when Beyoncé was still amassing her wealth, she tended to play it safe, making music that appealed to all sorts of listeners. It's equally aggressive and reflective, and Beyoncé - a bona fide cultural phenomenon - unveils yet another layer of her wide-ranging persona. Unlike the pop superstar's previous surprise album, 2013’s Beyoncé, the music here is edgy, full of vitriol and R-rated real talk. "He better call Becky with the good hair," Beyoncé scowls on "Sorry," one of several references to Hov’s cheating ways. ![]() Following the one-hour world premiere of Lemonade - which aired Saturday, April 23, on HBO and features family photos and a cameo from tennis star Serena Williams, in addition to plenty of politically charged imagery - she released the 12-track album, and it's full of scornful tales and lyrics that seem to address her husband Jay Z’s long-rumored infidelity. ![]() We’re not used to hearing Beyoncé speak so acerbically. Related Beyoncé's Lemonade is a raw personal and political statement. ![]()
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