Review Summary: An astoundingly visceral artistic tour de force that submerges itself head-first through the pain of being betrayed and the strength and inner resolve needed to forgive and give true love another fighting chance.
“You ain’t married to no average bitch boy” declares Beyoncé in the most hostile manner possible in pop music today on the frantic, seething Don’t Hurt Yourself. The third track off Lemonade, representative of the pop/R&B concept album to end them all, it’s clear from the opening track Pray You Catch Me that Lemonade was never going to be the most optimistic listening experience of 2016. Operating as a concept album set to modern R&B and pop, Beyoncé takes us through a marriage that’s been compromised by the act of infidelity and the processes needed to confirm the news, process it, forgive the betrayer and not divorce despite initial desires to. So it’s not that there aren’t any happy endings on Lemonade, it’s just that it takes three-quarters of the album’s tracklist to get anywhere resembling that. Not that you’ll be in any hurry to reach that realistic yet happier conclusion thanks to the album creating moments that, while don’t innovative like the songs did back when she released her first visual album in 2013, are truly engaging and experimental moments that are pure highlights in Beyoncé’s long and fruitful career.
For example, the disconnect between the music and the lyrical content present in Hold Up, the second track, is delicious. Over a breezy tropical beat that’s become all the rage (no pun intended) in pop today, Beyoncé focuses on the moment when your suspicions that your partner is cheating has been confirmed. Beyoncé manages to walk us through a variety of emotions revealed in the aftermath ranging from pure shock (“what a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you”) to white-hot fury (“Imma *** me up a bitch”) all within the space of under four minutes while still maintaining the same consistent tropical flair. The next track, the aforementioned Don’t Hurt Yourself, takes the anger touched upon in Hold Up and turns it up beyond 11. Beyoncé’s distorted voice bawls “who the *** do you think I am?” at whoever has betrayed her and ends the song on a menacing note by threatening “if you try this *** again, you’re gonna lose your wife”. Anybody that’s ever been cheated on or betrayed in any way will relate. This angry and resentful thread can be seen throughout the album even on the tracks that examine the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation and the album is more realistic, engaging and authentic for it.
The inherent difficulty in creating any concept album, regardless of album and genre but especially in pop, is ensuring that the album isn’t overly long, managing to make every track count while ensuring that the tracks can stand on their own two feet so that singles can help promote the album. This is an absolutely difficult achievement for any megastar to achieve without making any blunders (I’m looking at you Stripped) but Lemonade manages to achieve all those without any major errors. Even Formation, the lead single off the then unknown album which is tacked onto the end, makes sense in the context of the album as the cheated partner realises their worth and inspires others to overcome relationship adversary. A 12 track album with a total runtime of 45 minutes is standard for an album these days and not what you’d expect of a stereotypical concept album, but it works out just right for Lemonade.
In terms of single potential, Sorry and Formation have both been released as singles for a very good reason: although both make more sense in the context of the album, they don’t sound out of place on the radio. Although Hold Up seems like the obvious pick with its tropical flavourings lending it well to 2016 radio, if 6 Inch featuring The Weeknd doesn’t make an appearance on urban radio at least, Beyoncé might just lose a chance to hit it out of the park a third time. A menacing hip-hop and trap-influenced trap anthem, while it might initially seem out of place on the album coming after Sorry, my theory is that it uses sexuality as a form of empowerment following the various negative emotions invoked in the previous tracks as Beyoncé seemingly describes either another woman or herself in the third person. It might initially confuse the listener but my theory makes sense in context as yours would.
Much has been said about the racial politics involved and invoked in the album so I don’t feel qualified to make any additional comments on that beyond this: while Formation makes it very clear that Beyoncé is proud of her racial heritage as does the accommodating short film, Freedom could be applied to any situation regarding adversary, which fits quite well with the narrative about forgiveness in the aftermath of betrayal. In my opinion, turning the album as a whole into a big display of racial pride and nothing else is ignoring all the other parts of the album and prevents wider discourse from occurring. That isn't to say that race isn't a part of the album because it certainly is but we shouldn't let it cloud the rest of the album. The DVD has a bigger focus on race and racial politics across the world but to also turn the DVD into something purely about race is neglecting the other important messages in it about betrayal, love and hope.
So, is the album a classic that all the critics initially hailed it to be? It'll certainly go down in the history books as a solid concept album that experiments with different genres and maintains coherence while not compromising on the memorability of the individual songs. It's a must-buy if you're into Beyoncé and if you have access to Tidal, iTunes or can buy a physical copy.
