Rhetorical Analysis Of Lemonade

Beyoncé Knowles, a well-known singer, songwriter uses two of her songs: “Freedom” and “Formation” to tell the story of herself. “Freedom” is the beginning of her story where she is searching for freedom and equality showing that there is still much inequality and injustice for African Americans in America today. The song slowly transitions to a more positive tone when she seems to have made something beneficial out of her difficult situation. “Formation,” however, has a completely different tone. While she does address negative situations from the past at the beginning of the song, she quickly transitions to a more positive tone full of pride in where she came from, who she has become, and what she has overcome. Together, the two songs

One of the most prominent visuals in Lemonade is the setting of New Orleans, Louisiana. In current times, New Orleans is most closely associated with the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2004, in which a strong hurricane devastated the city and left many killed, injured, or homeless. There was national criticism of the government’s handling of Katrina, stating that the government took too long to respond to the crisis due to the city being mostly populated by blacks. However, this is not the only aspect of New Orleans that is central to Lemonade’s narrative. The video also shows staples of the old American South during the time of slavery, such as plantation homes and slave quarters. In this setting, Beyoncé indulges a fantasy of an all-black utopia dominated by women, who dress up, take photographs, and

Beyoncé recently released her music video on Saturday February 6, 2016. Beyoncé 's "Formation" video forms messages in text and visuals that fits today 's social issues. They call attention to the audience mainly for women and Black America. This piece of rhetoric creates meaning in society by giving us events and visuals to help the

Blake, E. (2016). The 11 extremely emotional chapters of Beyonce's 'Lemonade'. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2016/04/24/chapters-beyonce-lemonade/#8XEhAPOIZZqb [Accessed 18 Jul. 2017].

Women’s rights and racism have been two of the most controversial issues in the world. With all of the corruption occurring in the world, this should not be a main worry. Beyonce Knowles Carter recently released her sixth studio visual-album; this album, “Lemonade”, is her most emotional work yet. With this album, Beyonce has cemented her status as an artist who must be taken seriously. She has the influence to spark controversy across the nation and establish new trends. Beyonce’s newest album fought strongly for African American women’s rights. Some viewers felt as if this visual album was offensive to people of other ethnic backgrounds or genders.

Upon the initial release of Lemonade, the public's reactions to the album were mixed; tunnel visioning on the infidelity scandal, but also full of appraisal for the black excellence of the album. The media heavily influenced the public’s reactions to Lemonade, because most people believe what’s on the internet and don’t want to spend their time researching topics when media outlets can do just that and give them information as quickly as possible. Because of media bias, consumers were exposed to infidelity facet of Lemonade unless they watched/listened to the album themselves and truly understood the message behind the album. This led to groups of fans frantically trying to decipher the mystery of the person behind “Becky with the good hair”.

Throughout her career, Beyoncé has been no stranger to controversy. From covertly sexual lyrics to blatantly sexual music videos, she always seems to make headlines; perhaps none bigger than those surrounding the recent release of the music video for her song “Formation.” The themes presented in “Formation” were similar to those displayed in another music video, “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. Despite the similarities, the videos were received differently by their audiences. “Alright” received widely positive reviews from media outlets such as MTV and The Verge while “Formation” was perceived more negatively . The outrage surrounding Beyoncé’s “Formation” video, and lack thereof for “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, exhibits the prevalence of sexism in the media today.

Wrong. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word “lemon” is of course, Beyoncé. She recently came out with a new visual album named “Lemonade.” Highsnobiety.com (2016) mentions that Beyoncé’s sixth studio album debuted overwhelmingly positive reviews and was described as “defiant,” “brave” and “powerful,” and many felt the visual album was one of her strongest to date. My favorite song on the album is “Sandcastles.” I believe that “Sandcastles” is one of the most personal songs on the album; the most intimate. The video is simple and beautiful, as well. Vulture.com (2016) announced that it was the first video to feature Jay Z [her husband]. They also quoted that “it’s one of the most intimate windows into their marriage they’ve ever allowed. Here, she reaches “Forgiveness.” When I hear the word “lemon,” I automatically think of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” because I went to see her in concert in Miami at the Marlins Stadium. It was, in fact, one of the best days of my life. I got the tickets for my 18th birthday and took my significant other. It just had happened that my best friend had also gotten a ticket so we all carpooled together and listened to the album the whole way to the concert. When the album came out [which was in April, I believe], it was the only thing I listened to up until the concert about two weeks later. I had learned every single song on the album; even the order they were in. I practically lived “Lemonade”. It was one of the best experiences of my

Beyonce Knowles-Carter and her song ‘Formation’ present a powerful and culturally significant message to African-Americans through the use of pro-African-American symbolism and draws attention back to issues of inequality that are no longer being talked about in media or general society. Doing this allows the message of unity and hope to be spread among her culture, and seeks to encourage action towards changing anti-Black inequality in America. Her use of strong communication methods has ensured that the message will live on, due to it’s relevance and initial

Amid the endless list of songs nowadays about partying, sex, and drugs, Beyoncé came out with an amazing piece of art that is her album “Lemonade”. Underneath her beautiful voice and catchy beats, there is a politically and emotionally fueled message about injustices towards women and African Americans. Being as popular and influential as she is, Beyoncé is doing a great thing bringing light to these issues. In closing, I would encourage you to listen to Beyoncé’s new album “Lemonade” and also to get out of your own little world, realize what is going on around you, and take a stand for what you believe

Lemonade is presented as the creation of one woman, but why is this so important? This is a ruling class ideal of being a “self-made man”. The ideals that go with a self-made person is that all of the arrangements in society are natural. You have to accept the social order and not seeing the background she came up from and presenting herself as a representative of the working class is a false image. She travels in a private jet now and is one of the most successful African American women and not acknowledging any sort of struggle with making the American dream during the video makes her image seem natural and easy. Media according to Marxists is supposed to act as an “apologist for the ruling class in an effort to avert class conflict and to prevent changes to political order”. Her anger in the video is against the men in her life which also happen to be black. Rather than the white society that put herself in a position that made her accession society so difficult. Blaming African American males is something that white culture has done for years. Spouting hateful ideas like thinking it was a choice for the African American male to go to jail and not be supportive to their families. In this video the African American males are stereotypes of racist ideals that the white racists would agree with. The African American women is safer so she is allowed a role in society. Not

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:

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

Beyoncé’s video clip Formation was not good enough to gain my satisfaction because of many reasons. One of these reasons is that the lyrics and the scenes in many parts of the clip are not related at all. The word formation means coming together and forming a community that is made of distinct religions, cultures, and ethnicities. Contrary to the meaning of the word, Beyoncé in this video only portrayed black people and their culture and did not include other groups and ethnicities, such as white, aboriginal, and Latin people. In addition, some parts of the clip took place in a church. As a symbol of unity and love she could have included other places of worship, like a mosque or temple.