Bey’s back, and if you think the “Formation” video caused a stir, then check out “Lemonade.”
Her long-awaited sixth album, “Lemonade,” was announced to the world on Saturday night via an hour-long video companion, which premiered on HBO. The central theme was her strained relationship with husband Jay Z.
A number of songs, including “Pray You Catch Me” and “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” alluded heavily to the rapper’s long-rumored infidelity. The video segment to “Hold Up” left even less to the imagination, as Bey is filmed cheerily walking down a street, using a baseball bat to smash up everything in sight. Too subtle? Well, try the next scene, in which she drives a monster truck over a row of cars, completely obliterating them.
The track “Sorry” even goes as far as throwing in names. Beyoncé wistfully sings, “He only want me when I’m not there/He better call Becky with the good hair.” Whether Becky is a fictional name or not, it seems we finally know what Jay’s 2014 showdown with Solange Knowles in a Standard Hotel elevator was all about.
Just as the HBO video seemed destined to end in divorce papers, the album’s narrative actually took a turn towards reconciliation, especially on the raw piano ballad “Sandcastles.” It featured accompanying footage of a reunited Jay and Bey tenderly holding and caressing each other.
The visual album also made a point of addressing the other main man in her life – father Matthew Knowles. The bluesy “Daddy Lessons” didn’t shy away from his own infidelity and his emotional mistreatment of Beyoncé’s mother, Tina. But the singer also paid homage to her father’s wisdom, included were scenes from a touching home video with Knowles and a pre-teen Beyoncé.
“Lemonade” also featured a string of cameo appearances from celebrities, including Zendaya, Amandla Stenberg, Quevenzhané Wallis and a twerking Serena Williams.
The album and its visual companion are streaming exclusively on the Jay Z-backed streaming service TIDAL, which describes “Lemonade” as a “conceptual project based on every woman’s journey of self-knowledge and healing.”
