Beyonce's Lemonade Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Feb 1 2016

Location: 

Across United States

In a single hour, Beyoncé's Lemonade re-wrote the textbook definition of what a visual album should look like. The genre-bending music it introduced will define the struggles a generation was enduring in 2016, specifically for black women. The project transcends every definition pop has ever had; blending R&B, contemporary rock, country, reggae, soul and hip-hop in its 12 tracks, occasionally fusing several of these into a single song.

The carefully curated album incorporating the likes of Led Zeppelin, Malcolm X and Warsan Shire, Lemonade floored Beyoncé's fans around the world, and the voice behind the music became a living legend in the process.

Lemonade is a call to action. Beyoncé's music has been politically engaged for some time now, but with Lemonade she's transitioned into a full-blown revolutionary. The album marks Beyoncé's loudest call-to-action for women's liberation around the world. Her songs call on women to step into formation and shed any and all restraints that confine them: from the microaggressions stemming from Eurocentric beauty standards to economic disempowerment to toxic relationships.

The themes are captured perfectly in the album's visual form. Lemonade's chapters blends Native American, African, western, southern and European influences to create a haunting land in which women of creeds and colors are lining up, standing together and demanding recognition. The mothers of slain black children like Trayvon Marton, Michael Brown and Eric Garner hold photos of their sons, crying as Beyoncé and James Blake sing, "It's time to listen, it's time to fight, forward ... Go back to your sleep in your favorite spot just next to me."

Posted by Zhe Tang on

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