Lemonade : The Rocky Love Story Of It's Lemonade

Beyoncé Knowles’s Lemonade video album brings the words of Beyoncé into a visual media and shows the viewer a deeper meaning behind the album. After this video came out many articles came forward analyzing Lemonade. One article, in particular, that was intriguing is Bell Hooks “Moving Beyond Pain.” Hooks starts her article saying that the Lemonade video was created as a money-making, business strategy, but as the text continues the reader can conclude that “Moving Beyond Pain” is actually about African American women, and women in general, standing up for themselves.

Released in 2016 Lemonade is the sixth album recorded by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé Knowles. The famous artist was born in Houston, Texas to parents of African-American and Louisiana Creole descent. This has shaped a lot of her music in today’s industry, especially in this most recent album. Beyoncé is known as one of the most influential voices of popular culture since her rise to fame as a part of former R&B girl-group Destiny’s Child in the 1990s. The album covers countless of today’s world issues, but most importantly racial discrimination against African American women. The artist speaks up about this prejudice and attempts to empower listeners of the same background through her lyrics as well as her music videos.

This all started because Beyonce’s husband Jay z, cheated on her before she dropped the album. However, Beyonce understands that as an artist she has to make her success work in whichever way it may come, and so Beyonce decided to attack strictly through her album Lemonade and let her anger be her success. In the article, Harris says,”As many others have noted, she marshals an array of powerful signifiers of blackness” such as the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. Beyonce also focuses on the tender bonds between women mothers and daughters. Harris also says, “she also evokes sankofa, the Akan language word that has been translated to roughly describe the act of looking backward to the past in order to move forward”. A Black American model who is on location in Ghana for a photo shoot in the Cape Coast Castle is taken back in time and turned into slave by an old man named Sankofa, who encourages her to remember her ancestors. In the end of the film when the black american model returns back to the present she is in touch with her roots. Harris states that between the film and Beyonce’s album shows beyonce’s own journey toward her public embrace of black social justice. Also When Beyonce performed Formation in the Super Bowl

Referencing people who have lost their lives because of their gender and the color of their skin is supposed to show that the world is not perfect and mistakes have been made in the past. As she calls for self-appreciation and love, she also calls for unity and growth. Beyoncé teaches her listeners that they must understand and learn from their history to create a better future for tomorrow and the generations to come. The title Lemonade is a seemingly perfect node to taking the ingredients of life to create a meaningful and bright future. Beyoncé explains that although life may seem dark and gloomy, there is always a light at the end of the

The video has scenes of a church, a club, a hair store, a plantation house, old school cars, black cowboys, and clips of black lives matters rallies. She chooses these particular scenes to stand out and a make statements without having to verbally. She uses this tactical approach to address racial injustices, prejudice, embracing racial pride, and family through her platform. In the plantation house scene, Blue Ivy, Beyonce’s daughter is shown playing with other young black girls all crowned in natural thick curly afros. Beyonce quotes this scene with, “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros”, being she is often criticized for leaving Ivy’s hair in its natural state She continues to acknowledge her unconditional love despite how the world views the ones she loves with, “ I like my negro with Jackson Five nostrils”, as Jay-Z is always scrutinized for his large assets. This shows Beyonce is proud and openly embracing her roots and her family. In the hair store scene she is shown twirling a cluster of blonde weave braids, smacking on chewing gum and running her hands through a wig on a mannequin head. She use this scene to characterize her as a typical average black women hence hair stores are influential to many black girls and women as well as very prominent in black communities/culture. She is addressing racial injustices, prejudice, embracing racial pride, and

In her 2016 VMA performance Beyoncé ended her song formation with a giant neon sign behind her reading ‘feminist.’ Her live performances have often been a way for her to portray political views and catch global attention. Feminist is a word for some that has a negative connotation associated with it. Beyoncé is aware of her influence and by standing next to the notorious word she is using her brand to help create change in society. Global praise has also been given to her for her “****Flawless” music video. The video begins with a 9 year old Beyoncé auditioning for star search the music proceeds. At the end of the video it shows the girl group losing the competition. Though she often preaches the perfection of women this shows that we all have our imperfections and sometimes you lose. Beyoncé is empowering women by showing that no one's too good to lose, its part of life. The songs also contains an excerpt from (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘We Should All Be Feminists’) speech:

In the beginning of the video you see Beyoncé and her love interest talking about different characteristics that make or break a relationship; then transitions to her being in a dining room setting leaving to go to work. She is dressed in a police officer uniform talking about being one of the guys and then makes flirty eye contact with her partner. She ignores her boyfriend trying to contact her; she is acting like a

To begin, “Beyoncé’s Lemonade: When Life Gave Us Lemons, We Saved the World” illustrated the central claim that Beyoncé performed her album to articulate black solidarity as well as forgiveness and hope (Miles). As the author, Corey Miles, stated, “Beyoncé’s visual musical album Lemonade (2016) is… important because… the vocal and visual narrative speaks to the historical marginalized experience of black women by both society and hip-hop.” Miles discussed how black women disregarded black men and connected that to the thematic concepts in the first half of the album, such as denial and anger (Genius). Moreover, Miles connected the second half of the album which included “All Night,” to the concepts of hope and forgiveness. Beyoncé wrote her lyrics to forgive the black man, in reference to her cheating husband, to turn back into the independent women she once lived as before the relationship. Miles described how the structure of the work connected to bell hooks’ piece, “Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism,” since that women of color felt as if only white women took part in the feminist movement.

Beyoncé’s video is full of messages of self-love and acceptance in spite of a society that can be hostile towards black women. She sings, with her middle fingers up to the camera: “When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster (‘cause I slay)” (2.58). With this, she tosses a middle finger up to a society, and its double standards, that view female sexuality negatively. By dismissing gender roles by unapologetically expressing her power and sexuality, she extends a hand to other women and invites them to join her. Likewise, she extends an invitation to black women when she dances in sync with them and sings the chorus: “Okay ladies now let’s get in formation” (2.42). The lyrics call for black women to organize and defend their communities from current injustices, implying that a unified force is a more effective one. Also, the lyrics can double as “let’s get information,” suggesting that knowledge is an important tool when fighting oppression. Overall, Beyoncé’s use of lyrics and imagery illustrate the beauty and power of black women, and appeal to them to stand in solidarity in the fight against injustice in black

Each chapter is followed with commentary from Beyonce herself, and then followed by a song. The album starts off with “Pray you catch me”, and in this song she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her with some “mystery woman”. Most women would be angry when finding out that their husband has committed adultery, but Beyonce doesn’t seem angry; if anything she is sad and confused, and doesn’t understand what made her marriage fall apart the way it did, and before she makes the decision to change things about herself, she prays that her husband sees the distance between the two and changes his actions before it’s too late - hence the title “Pray You Catch

Revealing emotions of marital strife, and betrayal from her lifelong partner and spouse, Beyoncé unearths pain, anger, sadness, happiness, redemption, and empowerment to make this Lemonade. Lemonade encompasses a lot of genres of music like blues, jazz, rock and roll, R&B, country, gospel, and hip-hop. The album title was inspired by her grandmother Agnez Dereon, her husband's grandmother Hattie White.

Viewing the ideology and power (5) of the video gave it a whole new level of meaning and insight, and allowed to to really understand its true purpoise. Beyoncé’s “Formation” presents a much-needed message that resonates with the hearts of the audience. The music video consists of images of powerful black women, thus fighting the common perception of black females as an dehumanized individuals. Beyoncé challenges her audience “to look anew” and “to radically revision” their views on black females in society (Hooks, 2016). The racial societal hierarchy places women of color near the bottom, which is exactly the opposite of what Beyoncé conveys. She depicts all types of women of color as powerful figures who are not going to accept the stigma

“I think the most beautiful art is usually misunderstood,” Beyoncé stated in an interview with Elle magazine after her controversial performance at the Super Bowl this past February. Beyoncé released her sixth individual album, Lemonade, on April 23, 2016, which has songs showing her support for the Black Lives Matter movement and in favor of criminal justice and policing reform through lyrics and visual symbolism in her music videos and performances. Beyoncé delivers a Grammy-nominated album with songs such as “Formation” and “Freedom” that point out the slanted relationships between black men and women and police officers through the War on Drugs, racial profiling, mass incarceration, and policing policies. With her Super Bowl, VMA, and BET award show performances, Beyoncé and her backup dancers dresses, choreography, and other visual elements that give nods towards the Black Power Movement. The links between music and political change make a statement that the time is now for people to speak out against racial injustice and to get “in formation.”

Set on the aphorism of "when life serves you lemons, make lemonade," (as you will hear delivered by Jay-Z's grandmother), Beyoncé presents her first narrative, bringing back warm memories of Destiny's Child's Destiny Fulfilled. Lemonade's trajectory, however, isn't as victorious and joyous. It's an acutely desolate voyage through the experience of infidelity, each song exploring various emotional stages, like unease, paranoia, inferiority, fury and longing. These stages are broken down and expounded on in the partnering mini-film of the same title (aired on HBO on 4/23), where her main character's micro dilemma is used to discuss interrelated, macro gender and familial issues, like generational abuse, unfaithfulness and paternal abandonment. Touched on are the sacrifices and

This song has a lot of emotion behind it. I believe that when Beyoncé sings this song, she is sending off a message to the families of those who lost their lives during 9/11. She is singing from the victim’s point of view saying to remember me for the positive impact I have made in the world and how I strived to make the world a better place. She is singing to tell us that no matter how rich, successful, or famous you may be, always live your life to the fullest because you never know when it