FEATURE:
Beyoncé's Lemonade at Ten
IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé for ELLE in April 2016/PHOTO CREDIT: Paola Kudacki
Inside the Singles
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EVEN though Beyoncé…
has released several solo masterpiece albums, I think that her first huge breakthrough and masterpiece was 2011’s Lemonade. It followed 2013’s Beyoncé. That album was hugely loved and got a lot of love from critics. However, Lemonade took her music and genius to new levels. It created such a reaction when it was released on 23rd April, 2016. Not, of course, that the two are related, but Lemonade came out two days after Prince died. I think so many people were still stunned and numb from that shock news. When Lemonade was released two days after his death, it was perhaps a little hard to take in. I have already written about Lemonade and some of the reaction around it and writing about it. As it turns ten on 23rd April, I want to now look inside its five singles. Each different but all powerful and exceptional, here is a look inside Lemonade’s….
STUNNING singles.
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Formation
Release Date: 6th February, 2016
Songwriters: Beyoncé Knowles/Khalif Brown/Asheton Hogan/Michael Len Williams II
Producers: Beyoncé/Mike Will Made It
US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 10
Review:
“Fully realising a masterpiece can be a double-edged sword. In the two years since Beyoncé “changed the game with that digital drop”, I’ve frequently wondered just how she could possibly follow it.
If Beyoncé herself has been beset by such concerns, it doesn’t show. On Formation, she doesn’t just answer that question, but savours every delicious moment of making her statement. Just listen to her voice – or rather, voices; hanging out with Nicki Minaj (and indeed co-writer Swae Lee, one half of rap scamps Rae Sremmurd) has clearly had an effect. There’s the amused drawl of “y’all haters corny with that Illuminati mess”, the barely suppressed giggle about keeping hot sauce in her bag, the sudden giddy exclamation as she lands on the word “chaser” in the chorus. It’s one of Beyoncé’s most playful performances to date: she treats the Mike Will Made It-produced beat the same way a cat treats a ball of wool. With its rubbery springing steps giving way to horns, clattering martial tattoos and the kind of heavy bass that goes straight to your hips, there’s plenty for her to toy with; its loose approach to structure makes it more akin to a freeform dance routine than a conventional pop song.
Musically, it transpires that 7/11 – the rowdy bonus track appended to 2014’s re-release of Beyoncé on which she yelled about alcohol over harsh, metallic beats – was less a throwaway leftover and more of a signpost. But where the hood signifiers of that banger seemed designed to demonstrate that the impeccably poised artist could cut loose as messily as anyone, Formation’s declarations of identity are carefully chosen for political weight and layers of meaning. “I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils,” she declaims in the half-rapped, half-sung cadence that’s served her so well ever since she haughtily flipped In Da Club in 2003. It’s radical self-love, of course, but the metaphor is a flashing reminder of the troubled alternative that has faced black stars before now.
The video, meanwhile, opens with the singer crouched on a New Orleans police car, half-submerged in a flood – and closes with her lying back as the water engulfs both her and the vehicle. In between, footage of the city post-Katrina is interspersed with grainy shots of dancers shot from above, as though from a police helicopter; opulent gothic mansions straight out of the antebellum South, now owned by Beyoncé and her band of black women in vintage lace. Most effective of all is an extended shot of a child dancing in front of a row of riot police, who raise their hands in response to his moves before the camera cuts to graffiti reading “STOP SHOOTING US”.
Between the child dancers and the vintage constumery, there are echoes of Missy Elliott’s classic videos here; overall, it’s a striking way to underline the ways in which southern blackness – the culture and experience of it – is important to Beyoncé in 2016. As with her hyper-specific lyrics, it feels notable that she seems increasingly uninterested in universality; Formation’s references are designed for maximum resonance – or perhaps alienation, depending on where you stand. It’s a song ostensibly about Beyoncé’s identity that forces the listener to acknowledge their own identity – a bold move from the world’s biggest pop star, who over her career has been no stranger to the kind of song written so vaguely as to apply to anyone and anything. The presence of New Orleans bounce rapper Big Freedia works in a similar fashion; Formation may be Beyoncé’s blackest song yet, but thanks to Freedia and a healthy dose of exhortations to slay, it’s also her most gay.
Beyoncé’s abiding interest in money has made for some of her best moments; not in a reductive materialist sense, but because she has a deep understanding of how money informs social and romantic relations. Bills Bills Bills was never a gold-diggers’ anthem but rather a study of the way dating dynamics can turn on finance; on Irreplaceable, what hurt her the most was seeing her boyfriend “rolling her round in the car that I bought you”; on Rocket, Beyoncé even gave a sly wink to this trait of hers, whispering at the carnal climax: “What about that ching-ching-ching?” Here, a particularly terrific stretch sees her troll straight men by flexing her economic muscle over them: she’ll reward a good lover with a fast food meal, and – insert casual shrug – maybe even let him go shopping, too. When Drake, a rapper fêted for his sensitivity, can insult a rival simply for having a more accomplished girlfriend, Beyoncé revelling in her ability to keep her man in fancy treats feels like a much-needed riposte (and, in a way, a flip of the scenario her teenage self described in Bills Bills Bills).
The central tension in Formation is between its playfulness and the anger underpinning it; often, there’s a disconnect between Beyoncé’s carefree voice and the powerful images on screen. As it goes on, though, the significance of the dance becomes clearer. If Beyoncé’s self-titled album was a fundamentally personal statement, the painstaking work of a woman engaged in deep analysis of herself, her desires and her place in the world, Formation finds her turning her attention outwards. Ultimately, it is a rallying cry, and it couldn’t be more timely; when Beyoncé begins to exhort her ladies to get in formation, it’s the sound of a militia being prepared for battles ahead” – The Guardian
Sorry
Release Date: 3rd May, 2016
Songwriters: Beyoncé/Diana Gordon/Sean Rhoden
Producers: Beyoncé/MeLo-X/Diana Gordon
US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 11
Review:
“On April 23, in the year of our Beyoncé 2016, Queen Bey created a cauldron of steaming hot tea and called it “Lemonade”. And it was very, very good. The HBO exclusive shocked the world through 12 songs and a holistic visual experience, complete with gorgeous gowns, celebrity appearances, social justice, spoken word poetry, black girl magic, and a national forest’s worth of shade.
Two months later, Beyoncé has released a standalone clip from “Lemonade” as her video for “Sorry”. While it’s hard to pick a favorite moment from “Lemonade”—it’s a tough call between every time Beyoncé wore vintage lingerie in an abandoned mansion and every time Jay Z had to look really apologetic on camera—“Sorry” is by far the most iconic single.
The song's Warsan Shire-penned intro promises “ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks” and Beyoncé delivers. “Sorry” is a middle finger to cheating husbands and the trifling wannabes who love them. It features an abandoned school bus, about fifteen outfit changes, Beyoncé cussing and Serena Williams twerking. Plus, “Sorry” will always have a special place in the hearts of the Beyhive as the track that introduced the world to Jay Z’s most infamous alleged mistress, “Becky with the good hair.”
Hopefully, in addition to “Sorry” and “Formation,” more bits and pieces of “Lemonade” will hit YouTube in the coming months. So cancel your Tidal subscription—or in my case, stop creating fake Gmail accounts for 30 day free trials—and let this music video usher you into the summer of “boy, bye.” Not you, Becky” – The Daily Beast
Hold Up
Release Date: 27th May, 2016
Songwriters: Thomas Pentz/Ezra Koenig/Beyoncé Knowles/Emile Haynie/Josh Tillman/Uzoechi Emenike/MeLo-X/Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman/DeAndre Way/Antonio Randolph/Kelvin McConnell/Karen Orzolek/Brian Chase/Nick Zinner/Raini Rodriguez
Producers: Diplo/Beyoncé/Ezra Koenig
US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 13
Review:
“This is the liminal moment right after a betrayal but before the consequences. When the freedom of the fall causes a rush. When a head gets light and loopy. When life suddenly seems limitless. When the rules—of gravity, of morality, of empathy—no longer apply. For Beyoncé, this moment means skipping down the street with a baseball bat named Hot Sauce as the world bursts into fireballs behind you.
“Hold Up” is a delirious flight of fancy. The music has no weight, no place, no time—a calypso dream heard through walls and generations. The video lets us peek at this dream without bringing us down to dirt; though the naturalistic soul of New Orleans can be felt throughout much of the Lemonade film, “Hold Up” is pure Hollywood. It is authentically inauthentic, a perfectly lit soundstage in which hydrants pop on cue, billowing fans give lift to hair and dresses, and dudes with “In Memory of When I Gave a Fuck” shirts pop wheelies on the zeitgeist. It is a parody, tribute to, and destruction of what we have come to expect from a Beyoncé video.
But it’s the precise words coming out of a precise mouth that make this hallucination seem real. Fifteen people contributed to the writing of this song, but only one really matters. When Beyoncé works in the pained refrain of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps,” she makes it glorious while allowing our memories to hint at the anguish underneath. Soulja Boy’s swag—invoked here as a shoulder-brushing afterthought—has rarely felt so on. There are a few rapped bars that put her rapper husband’s deepest insecurities on display; the quick verse is more incisive than anything Jay-Z has done in years.
Of course, craziness can’t last—eventually, somebody’s going to have to fix all those busted windows. But not here. Not now” – Pitchfork
Freedom
Release Date: 9th September, 2016
Songwriters: Jonny Coffer/Beyoncé/Carla Marie Williams/Dean McIntosh/Kendrick Lamar/Frank Tirado/Alan Lomax/John Lomax, Sr.
Producers: Coffer/Beyoncé/Just Blaze
US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 35
Review:
“If you have not yet heard of the album Lemonade, I kindly ask that you emerge from the rock under which you have been living for the past number of months and familiarise yourself with this collection of songs by Beyonce. It is a conceptual album that pushes the boundaries of music, blurring the lines of genre to create a sublime piece of art, a pinnacle record that will be revisited by music lovers for ages to come. Lemonade is the culmination of the efforts of some of the finest talent in the music industry today, each a master in their field and some even pioneers in new styles and sound. The song Freedom, which features the talent of Kendrick Lamar is one of the masterpieces on Lemonade.
Freedom can be summed up in one word; powerful. This song gives a new lease of life to the R’nB and Hip Hop genre. The production of the track, which was Just Blaze and Jonny Coffer’s domain, has been executed with such skill in the way that samples of many culturally significant songs have been included and the moment in Lamar’s rap where the echo effect gives a scare- I instinctively looked back over my shoulder expecting a haunting figure to be there. This hair raising moment is an exciting theatrical effect in Freedom. Lamar is a huge star in the hip hop universe and his pairing with Beyonce for this track is formidable.
The core message in the song is about breaking away from your own metaphorical chains. The organ wailing while the lyric “cause a winner don’t quit on themselves” is sung in full blown soul mode by Beyonce and is inspiring and makes you feel as if you can take on the world. It is an empowering” – Renowned for Sound
All Night
Release Date: 2nd December, 2016
Songwriters: Thomas Wesley Pentz/Beyoncé/Henry Allen/André Benjamin/Antwan Patton/Patrick Brown/Timothy Thomas/Theron Thomas/Ilsey Juber/Akil King/Jaramye Daniels
Producers: Diplo/Beyoncé
US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 38
Review:
“After all of Lemonade’s turmoil and tragedy, “All Night” uplifts and inspires. Beyoncé has always been an incredible purveyor of love songs, but this is one of the most raw and, perhaps, realistic. There’s no crazed passion, no danger, no balladeering — instead, there is painful imperfection, deep admiration, and most of all, fervent hope. Amid its trepidation, “All Night” sounds triumphant, with a steady groove, warm guitar, and the unforgettable brass line from OutKast’s “SpottieOttieDopaliscious.” The honesty and poetry of its lyrics paired with depth and breadth of its production make “All Night” an incredible entry in Beyoncé’s oeuvre” – Rolling Stone Australia