1. The album centers around Beyonc’s relationship with husband Shawn Carter, but professionally known as Jay-Z. Beyonc depicts her and Jay-Z’s marriage after Jay-Z was found to be a serial adulterer. Themes of love, heartbreak, and how women are perceived in these times. The album seems to have a narrative and an almost character arch. We can see the difference in Beyonc’s tone and overall mood of the album by seeing the difference between the first track Pray you Catch me and the track Freedom.
In the second Track, Hold Up, we have Beyonc going through an anger, bitter phase, knowing what her husband has done and questioning herself. What struck me most about the song was the lyric “What’s worse, looking Jealous or Crazy?” 1:10 What Beyonc is trying to say is how women are perceived when they act out or have breakdowns. They are called crazy, they are not taken seriously by others. Maybe she’s worried people won’t even believe her, they’ll just think she’s being jealous or crazy.
In “Don’t Hurt Yourself” Beyonc confronts her husband in an even angrier state, with blaring hard rock guitars to show her true rage. She proclaims her independence, saying “Who the Fuck Do you think I am, You ain’t married to no average bitch Boy” (00:41) and “keep your money, I got my own” (00:55) Despite this declaration of Freedom, it still feels like a “Screw You” attitude, and judging by the following tracks, Beyonc had yet to find any real independence and self-acceptance, this is just her lashing out, not knowing how to feel, still insecure and hurt. The Track “Freedom” is where I think it takes an almost Hero’s Journey approach. This is the song where Beyonc truly finds that self-worth and well, Freedom. Beyonc proclaims “I’m telling these tears, go and fall away, fall away, May the last one burn into flames; Freedom” (00:52) Beyonc has become free. She has learned to live for her, to love for her. She won’t let this terrible situation and pain ruin her life and self-worth. She is free from the bitterness and pain.
With her new self acceptance and worth, the next track “All Night” is a song where Beyonc takes back Carter, but not for him, but for her. So she can be happy. This self respect is shown in the lyrics “My love was stronger than your pride, Beyond your darkness I’m your light” (1: 39) These lyrics and this song are Beyonc realizing that they are both broken and in a way they need each other, but Beyonc also realizes she should do what makes her most happy, and being with Jay-Z is that.
This album is great and I’m a big fan of Jay-Z’s 4:44, which is the other side to the story, if you want to check that out. I love how the album flows in almost real time with the songs in order with the events and Beyonc’s feelings. The Hero’s Journey is the classic story telling device used throughout history and I think it fits here. Beyonc’s inner turmoil ending with her finding self-worth and peace is a really beautiful story matched with eloquent production and Beyonc’s iconic vocals.
2.The song I’ll be talking about Hold Up, by Beyonce. At the beginning of the song, she talked and said, “I tried to change, close my mouth moreprettier, less awake, fasted for sixty days” (0:08-1:35). It sounds so much how women go through media and wanting to be perfect in everything. This song was supposed to be about her man, that cheated on her and being unfaithful. She smiles and wanders around with the bat as if she is going after the other woman that her cheating lover went for. It makes me wonder why she kept repeating “love,” I see it in almost every sentence.
In the song called All Night, Beyonce shows many beautiful black women as strong and not afraid to show themselves. “Beyonc rejects any magic predicated on constraint with Lemonade, a meditation on the process of becoming a black woman in a society in which black women matter the least, are “the mule of the world” and are the most disrespected, neglected, and unprotected.” (rolling stones) She talks about her grandmother story’s and shows all the love of the people. Love is love, is what I think she was trying to say. “Grandmother, the alchemist You spun gold out of this hard life, Conjured beauty from the things left behind Found healing where it did not live Discovered the antidote in your own kitchen Broke the curse with your own two hands, You passed these instructions down to your daughter, Who then passed it down to her daughter.” (0:00-0:40) This meaning is so strong and reminds them of what they have been through with the past and the meaning of their skin color. As I look for more information about this song, this was studied for black culture, black women, police brutality, and the deconstruction and reconstruction of a marriage in the wake of devastating betrayal. (Bustle, website)
3.Beyonce’s album Lemonade was released in 2016, which includes a theme of political commentary political commentary on the issue that Black Americans face such as systemic racism from treatment of police and media. The visual album of Lemonade shows the mothers of four black children who were killed in unjust ways. Mike Brown, who was shot by a police officer. Trayvon Martin who was shot by a neighbor, Eric Garner, who died by being choked by the police, and Oscar Grant, who was shot by a security officer. These mothers are shown with a heartbroken face and a picture of their deceased son. Lemonade shows us the consequences that real Americans feel as the result of institutional problems.
For context, the album came out in the middle of a time where the Black Lives Matter movement was growing large enough to gain international attention. The album also came out during a presidential election year, which race played a large role in due to Trump’s involvement (If you can recall, Trump’s first speech when he announced his run insinuated that many Mexican immigrants were rapists, murderers, and thieves).
The issues brought up in Lemonade are still relevant today, 5 years later. The death of George Floyd that caused protests all around the country is based on the same exact message that Beyonce talks about in her album.
One of the song’s that stood out to me was the song Freedom. While the song is upbeat and catchy, it tackles a very serious issue of the feelings and experiences that Black Americans face. However instead of giving a negative or angry message, the song is an empowering one. Gender, Race, And Class in Media gives a similar reading of the album Lemonade, stating that “Lemonade countered stereotypes of Black women and men not only through positive representations but also through confident embrace of Blackness” (Yousman, Yousman, Dines, and Humes, 146). The name and the topic of the song are about “Freedom”, which is a strong theme among Americans in general, dating back to the positive perception of when the Revolutionary War occurred. Beyonce uses a topic that all Americans can relate with to provide an optimistic message about the issues Black Americans face:
“Freedom, cut me loose! Freedom! Freedom! Where are you? ‘Cause I need freedom, too! I break chains all by myself”
Kendrick Lamar also appears in the song, but his lyrics focus more about expanding what kind of experience Black Americans feel. His lyrics provide a powerful callback to some of the large cases of institutional racism showcased by the 4 mothers that was talked about above. Here are some of the lyrics he sings:
“Open correctional gates in higher desert / Open our mind as we cast away oppression / Open the streets and watch our beliefs / And when they carve my name inside the concrete”
“Channel 9 news tell me I’m movin’ backwards / Eight blocks left, death is around the corner / Seven misleadin’ statements ’bout my persona / Six headlights wavin’ in my direction”
These lyrics explain how local news stations often show engagements with the police that portray black people as criminals. Black Americans often feel like they are not protected from the police, where they are murdered at much higher rates. They are over-represented in prisons (correctional facilities).
4The singer appears simultaneously angry, heartbroken, and devastated. This is Beyonces sixth album and a lot of it seemed to be very dense material so divulging what a some of it meant was very challenging for me. A lot of Lemonade is about the experience and the disrespect that is towards black women “the most disrepected person in America” which is from her quoting Malcolm X. I was very interested in the title and specifically the history behind it of how it was named ” lemonade”. It is drawn from Jay Zs grandmother, who is shown in the film at her 90th birthday party: I was given lemons and I made lemonade. The fashion throughout Lemonade seemed to be very significant. She wore things like a Cavalli dress using a baseball bat as an accessory and a single ladies leotard and a fur coat. A lot of Gucci was also shown. There are also lots of African influence which show and touch on some of her heritage. A song that struck a cord in me was Hold Up. She starts off talking about herself and women how she changes herself, softens up, tries to look prettier, starving herself etc…
The beginning of the video shows her drowning in a room and as the video goes on you can see her gaining more power and confidence. She comes out of what looks like a church wearing a beautiful yellow dress and then grabs a bat. With the bat she starts acting crazy smashing car windows and breaking fir hyrdrants saying “Walked all over lately, i’d rather be crazy”(2:51) This to me was very interesting because she addresses an unfaithful lover who she thinks is cheating. She tells him to “hold up” and consider all the consequences because the other women that he is with do not respect him like she does. This song elude’s to her husband Jay-z. His actions have ultimately led to the potential of her turning “crazy” instead of being jealous and getting walked on. This video and much of the Lemonade album is for uplifting black women and shining a light on how they are disrespected.
