Lemonade was hailed as an instant classic upon release and has since been named one of the greatest albums of all time. Critics commended the experimental post-genre production and nuanced vocal performance, with particular praise for the political subject matter reflecting Beyoncé's personal life. It was music critics' top album of 2016 according to theBBC, was named the greatest album of the 2010s decade by publications such as theAssociated Press, and toppedRolling Stone's Greatest Albums of the 21st Century list. One of themost Grammy-nominated albums in history,Lemonade wonBest Urban Contemporary Album andBest Music Video at the59th Grammy Awards. It also won aPeabody Award in Entertainment at the76th Annual Peabody Awards and received four nominations at the68th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Lemonade is considered a cultural phenomenon, sparking widespread discourse on its personal revelations and socio-political commentary. It had a significant impact on the entertainment industry, inspiring other musicians and visual artists, and ignited trends across music, fashion and pop culture. It has also been the subject of extensive analysis in academic journals, college courses, books, and museum exhibitions. It was the best-selling album worldwide of 2016, according to theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with 2.5 million copies sold.
Beyoncé performing withJay-Z at theOn The Run Tour (2014), amidst rumors of marriage issues.
Beyoncé's career took a transformative turn with the release of her fifth studio album, eponymously titledBeyoncé (2013).[1] The album received widespread commercial and critical success, and its innovativesurprise-release andvisual format influenced how music is released in the digital age.[2][3] This marked a significant shift in her public image, elevating her from a leadingpop star to anauteur who defied industry conventions.[1][4]
The following year, her personal life became a subject of public scrutiny after rumors spread of her husbandJay-Z's infidelity. This was fuelled by a widely publicized incident at the 2014Met Gala, where leaked elevator footage showed Beyoncé's sisterSolange physically attacking Jay-Z. The family released a joint statement assuaging concerns, and while divorce rumours continued throughout Beyoncé and Jay-Z's jointOn The Run Tour (2014), the couple presented a unified front.[5]
On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released the song "Formation" as a free download via music streaming serviceTidal, accompanied by an unlistedmusic video onYouTube.[6] The track, which blendedtrap andbounce, saw Beyoncé celebrate her culture, identity, and success as ablack woman from theSouthern United States.[7][8][9] The song and video were met with widespread acclaim, with critics praising the release as a personal and political ode toblack Southern heritage.[10][11] Beyoncé performed the song a day after its release as part of a guest appearance during theSuper Bowl 50 halftime show.[12] A commercial aired after the performance announcingThe Formation World Tour, with pre-sales opening two days later.[13] While the performance received rave reviews from fans and critics,[14][15] it was met with backlash, boycotts, and protests from someconservative figures and law enforcement organizations over perceivedanti-police,anti-American, andanti-white racist messages.[16][17][18]
In an interview withElle, published on April 4, 2016, Beyoncé was asked what she wanted to accomplish with the next phase of her career. She shared her desire to produce work that promoted healing and transformation, saying:
"I hope I can create art that helps people heal. Art that makes people feel proud of their struggle. Everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform. Pain is not pretty, but I wasn't able to hold my daughter in my arms until I experienced the pain of childbirth!"[19]
Early sessions for the album took place at theRecord Plant in Los Angeles.
Lemonade was recorded between June 2014 and July 2015 across 11 studios in the United States.[20] Beyoncé had the idea to write each song corresponding to a specific emotion that would form the chapters of the album and film, and postedmood boards around the studio representing each chapter to provide direction to her collaborators.[21][22] Beyoncé and her collaborators also played music in the studio to inspire each other.[23] The album was written in stages, with Beyoncé retreating to her home to work on the recordings with recording and mixing engineerStuart White, as well as to take care of her daughter. The process began at theRecord Plant in Los Angeles, which the team used for a month. They then took a break, and later went to Paris for 45 days. The team stayed in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms, one for Beyoncé and one for Jay-Z.[24] Jay-Z recounted how he and Beyoncé recorded music both separately and together, describing it as "using our art almost like a therapy session" after his infidelity. The music that Beyoncé recorded separately was what becameLemonade and was released first.[25]
Lemonade was produced through Beyoncé's synthesis of the work of many collaborators, including both popular and lesser-known artists.[26] Beyoncé oversaw all aspects of the writing and production process; co-writersMNEK andJonny Coffer noted that she had a clear vision for how the songs should sound, consistently offering direction and suggestions to guide the creative process.[26][27] The songs were developed in a piecemeal fashion, with Beyoncé combining material that she had written herself with elements from other writers.[22][26] CollaboratorMeLo-X described Beyoncé's production style as highly distinctive, saying: "She has a way of creating that I've never seen before as an artist. She produces, alters and arranges tracks in ways I wouldn't think of."[26]
We all experience pain and loss, and often we become inaudible. My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history. To confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It's important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families — as well as the news, theSuper Bowl, theOlympics, theWhite House and theGrammys — and see themselves, and have no doubt that they're beautiful, intelligent and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race. And I feel it's vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes.
Melina Matsoukas, the director of the"Formation" music video, said that Beyoncé explained to her the concept behindLemonade, stating: "She wanted to show the historical impact ofslavery on black love, and what it has done to the black family, and black men and women—how we're almost socialized not to be together."[31] Beyoncé wrote on this in a 2018Vogue article about the "generational curses" in her family, explaining that she comes "from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust", including a slave owner who married a slave. Beyoncé continues, writing "Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship. Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful."[32]
This theme is repeated throughoutLemonade, with Beyoncé's grief, trauma and struggle being connected to that of her family's ancestors.[33] The sixth track "Daddy Lessons" acts as a turning point for the album, with Beyoncé linking Jay-Z cheating on her with her fatherMathew Knowles cheating on her motherTina.[34] Towards the end ofLemonade, Beyoncé reveals the meaning behind the title, showing Jay-Z's grandmother Hattie White saying "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade", and describing her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, as an "alchemist" who "spun gold out of this hard life" with the instructions to overcome these challenges passed down through generations like a lemonade recipe.[35]
Miriam Bale forBillboard calledLemonade "a revolutionary work ofBlack feminism" as "a movie made by a black woman, starring Black women, and for Black women", in which Beyoncé is seen gathering, uniting and leading Black women throughout the film.[36] As well as relating the story of Beyoncé's relationship with her husband,Lemonade also chronicles the relationship between Black women and American society. This includes how the United States betrayed and continually mistreats Black women, with society needing to solve its problems in order to enable reformation and the rehabilitation of Black women.[37][38] As part of reverting the societal oppression and silencing of Black women,Lemonade centralizes the experiences of Black women in a way that is not often seen in the media, and celebrates their achievements despite the adversity they face.[39][40]
"Don't Hurt Yourself" contains a quote fromMalcolm X in which he said "The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman". The Black female public figures that Beyoncé featured in the film all have successful careers despite experiencingmisogynoir and racism in the media.[41] The film also contains clips of everyday Black women from working class communities, bringing visibility to Black women who are often ignored and undermined by society.[40] The film envisions a space where there was never oppression of Black women, whereby Beyoncé and other Black women form a self-sufficient community in which they can heal together.[42][43]Lemonade also defies and dismantles stereotypical representations of Black women as monolithic andangry Black women, instead attributing them complexity, agency, strength and vulnerability.[41]
Beyoncé also usesLemonade as a form of recognition, commemoration and celebration of the culture and history of Black people in theDeep South and in the United States as a whole. The film contains allusions to slavery, such as theHouse of Slaves' Door of No Return in Senegal and the dungeons ofElmina Castle in Ghana, where slaves were taken before being shipped to the Americas.[49][50] In "Love Drought", Beyoncé walks with her dancers into the sea, alluding to theIgbo Landing of 1803, whereIgbo slaves took control of their slave ship, and rather than submit to slavery, marched into the sea while singing inIgbo, drowning themselves.[51] Beyoncé appears wearing atignon, in reference to Louisiana'stignon laws implemented in 1786 that limited African-American women's dress in order to maintain the state's racist social hierarchies.[52] The film also contains references toAfrican religion and spirituality, such asYorubaori body paint in "Sorry", allusions to theloaErzulie Red-Eyes in "Don't Hurt Yourself", and Beyoncé's initiation into theSantería religion and embodiment of the YorubaorishaOshun in "Hold Up".[37][53] Allusions toNew Orleans culture include "Queen ofCreole cuisine"Leah Chase, theEdna Karr Marching Band,jazz funerals,Mardi Gras Indians and theSuperdome.[54]
Beyoncé is seen with other Black women onplantations inLemonade. In the "Formation" video, the walls of the plantation houses are covered withFrench Renaissance-style portraits of Black subjects; directorMelina Matsoukas states that "films about slavery traditionally feature white people in these roles of power and position. I wanted to turn those images on their head."[31] Towards the end ofLemonade, Beyoncé and several Black women are on a plantation, with Chris Kelly forFact writing "Instead of an antebellum memory, these scenes portray a dream: the fantasy of an all-Black, matriarchal utopia when women dress up, prepare meals, take photographs and perform shows, not for a master but for themselves."[54] Throughout the film, Beyoncé can be seen inFort Macomb, aConfederate States Army stronghold that was taken over by one of the first all-BlackUnion Army units – the1st Louisiana Native Guard – and eventually destroyed byHurricane Katrina.[55] On the central track "Daddy Lessons", Beyoncé is seen standing in a hideaway in the fort, alluding to theUnderground Railroad.[54] However, on the closer "All Night", Beyoncé is seen above ground, walking on top of the ruins of the fort in anantebellum-style dress made inWest African material, possibly inspired by artistYinka Shonibare who is known for reappropriating "European import — the cloth — to remake symbols of European cultural dominance in the spirit of Africa".[56]
On "Don't Hurt Yourself", Beyoncé samplesLed Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks". However, the classic rock song was originally written by blackDelta blues artistsKansas Joe McCoy andMemphis Minnie, with the song referring to theGreat Mississippi Flood of 1927 which displaced hundreds of thousands of African Americans.[57] With the sample, Beyoncé reappropriates the song that was written by Black people about black history.[58] In general, Beyoncé also reappropriates genres that were influenced by African Americans that are now seen as predominantly white genres onLemonade, such asrock in "Don't Hurt Yourself" andcountry in "Daddy Lessons".[59]
Lemonade features musiciansJack White,Kendrick Lamar, and bassistMarcus Miller, and sampling fromfolk music collectorsJohn Lomax, Sr. and his sonAlan Lomax on "Freedom".[69] Beyoncé and her team reference the musical memories of all those periods,[69] including abrass band, stompingblues rock, ultraslow avant-R&B, preaching, a prison song (both collected by John and Alan Lomax), and the sound of the 1960sfuzz-tone guitar psychedelia (sampling the Puerto Rican band Kaleidoscope).[70] TheWashington Post called the album a "surprisingly furioussong cycle about infidelity and revenge".[71] TheChicago Tribune described it as not just a mere grab forpopular music dominance, rather it is a retrospective that allows the listener to explore Beyoncé's personal circumstances, with musical tones from thesouthern United States, a harkening back towards her formative years spent inTexas.[72]AllMusic wrote that Beyoncé "delights in her Blackness, femininity, and Southern origin with supreme wordplay."[73] On the album,Isaac Hayes andAndy Williams are among thesampled artists.[74]PopMatters noticed how the album was nuanced in its theme of anger and betrayal with vast swathes of the album bathed in political context; however, it is still a pop album at its essence with darker and praiseworthy tones.[75]
There are two suggested inspirations for the title. The song "Freedom" includes at its end an audio recording of Hattie White, grandmother of Beyoncé's husbandJay-Z's, telling a crowd at her ninetieth birthday party in December 2015: "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade", referencing the proverb "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" that encourages turning sourness and difficulty to something positive. Beyoncé also draws a connection to her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, using her lemonade recipe that was passed down through the generations as a metaphor for the mechanisms for healing passed through generations.[35]
The cover artwork forLemonade is from the music video shot for "Don't Hurt Yourself" and features Beyoncé wearingcornrows and a fur coat, leaning against aChevrolet Suburban and covering her face with her arm.[76] In 2023, Joe Lynch ofBillboard ranked it the 99th best album cover of all time.[77]
Lemonade was first made available foronline streaming viaTidal on April 23, 2016, throughParkwood Entertainment andColumbia Records, and fordigital download the following day. It was released forCD andDVD on May 6, 2016. Alimited editionbox set titledHow to Make Lemonade was made available for pre-order on August 18, 2017, containing a six-hundred-pagecoffee table book, featuring a set of pictures andbehind-the-scenes content showcasing the making of the album, and adouble vinyl LP ofLemonade. Standalone vinyl was released on September 15, 2017.[78]Lemonade was initially only available to stream on Tidal, but was added to other streaming platforms on April 23, 2019, exactly three years after its release. The version made available on other streaming services contains the original audio part ofLemonade as well as the original demo of "Sorry" as a bonus.[79]
Beyoncé had a goal to perform the entireLemonade album live.[80] Beyoncé performed "Formation" at theSuper Bowl 50 halftime show as part of her guest appearance at the event, with critics lauding the performance and stating that she stole the show from headlinersColdplay.[81][82][83] The political symbolism in the performance also inspired many thinkpieces and discussions on their history and significance.[84][85][86]Beyoncé performed "Freedom" withKendrick Lamar as the surprise opening number at the2016 BET Awards on June 27.[87] The performance began with an audio clip ofMartin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.[88][89] The performance was met with acclaim by critics.[90] At the2016 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, Beyoncé performed a sixteen-minute medley of "Pray You Catch Me", "Hold Up", "Sorry", "Don't Hurt Yourself", and "Formation", and included interludes of the poetry as heard in theLemonade film.[91] Critics noted that Beyoncé used political symbolism during "Pray You Catch Me", which included angel-like dancers in historical black hairstyles (such asBantu knots,braids anddreadlocks) successively falling to the ground as though shot, alluding topolice brutality, and a black man in a black hoodie catching, uplifting and pushing Beyoncé forward, alluding toTrayvon Martin, who was killed when wearing a black hoodie.[92][93]
To promoteLemonade, Beyoncé embarked onthe Formation World Tour which visited countries in North America and Europe from April to October 2016.[107] The stage featured theEs Devlin-designed 'Monolith', a revolving seven-storey-tall box made with video screen walls that could shoot out fire and fireworks and split open, and which revolved during the show to represent a new chapter in line with theLemonade film.[108][109]The Formation World Tour was met with rave reviews from critics, such as Kat Bein forRolling Stone who described the show as "a prime example of entertainment and a vision of an artist at her apex" and "a visual feast as well as an emotional tour de force, packed with fireworks, confetti, rearranging stage designs and aerial dancers".[107] The Formation World Tour wonTour of the Year at the2016 American Music Awards,[110] was included inRolling Stone's 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years list in 2017,[111] and was named the best tour of the decade (2010s) byConsequence of Sound in 2019.[112]
The Formation World Tour was ranked at number one and number two onPollstar's 2016 mid-year Top 100 Tours chart both in North America and worldwide respectively, with a total mid-year worldwide gross of $137.3 million from the first twenty-five shows (including $126.3 million from the first North American leg of the tour). In total, the tour grossed $256 million from forty-nine sold-out shows according toBillboard box score, and ranked at number two onPollstar's 2016 Year-End Tours chart.
Lemonade was accompanied by the release of a sixty-five-minute film of the same title, produced byGood Company and Jonathan Lia, which premiered onHBO on April 23, 2016,[113] logging 787,000 viewers.[114] It is divided into eleven chapters, titled "Intuition", "Denial", "Anger", "Apathy", "Emptiness", "Accountability", "Reformation", "Forgiveness", "Resurrection", "Hope", and "Redemption".[115]The film uses poetry and prose written by British-Somali poetWarsan Shire; the poems adapted were "The Unbearable Weight of Staying", "Dear Moon", "How to Wear Your Mother's Lipstick", "Nail Technician as Palm Reader", and "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love".[116][117]
TheLemonade film appeared on a number of critics' lists.Pitchfork listedLemonade at number one on their list of best music videos of 2016.[123]It was also included onSight & Sound's best films of 2016 list at number twenty-six.[124][125] David Ehrlich, a film critic forIndieWire, placedLemonade at number twenty-three on his Best Films of 2016 list.[126] Jen Yamato fromThe Daily Beast ranked it at number nine on her list of the Top 10 Best Films of 2016.[127] In June 2016, Matthew Fulks sued Beyoncé,Sony Music,Columbia Records andParkwood Entertainment for allegedly lifting nine visual elements of his short filmPalinoia for the trailer forLemonade. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed by New York federal judgeJed S. Rakoff, siding with the defendant.[128]
Lemonade consisted of five singles, three of which would become major hits. All twelve songs charted on the USBillboard Hot 100.[129] "Formation" was released as the first single exclusively on Tidal on February 6, 2016, along with its accompanying music video. The song was part of the set Beyoncé performed the following day at theSuper Bowl 50 halftime show.[130] "Formation" peaked at number ten on the USBillboard Hot 100. The music video for the song was uploaded ontoVevo in December 2016.[131]
"Sorry" was released as the second single and serviced torhythmic adult contemporary radio in the United States on May 3, 2016,[132] and its music video was uploaded onto Vevo on June 22, 2016.[133] The single debuted and peaked at number eleven on the USBillboard Hot 100.[134]
"Hold Up" was the third single and was first released tocontemporary hit radio stations in Germany and the United Kingdom on May 12, 2016,[135][136] and was later serviced to radio in the United States on August 16, 2016.[137] It debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the USBillboard Hot 100.[134] The music video for "Hold Up" was uploaded onto Vevo on September 4, 2016.[138]
The fourth and fifth singles released were "Freedom" and "All Night", respectively. Both became moderate hits with the former (released September 2016) peaking at US number thirty-five, and the latter (released December 2016) peaking at US number thirty-eight.
Lemonade received widespread acclaim upon release,[149] with many describing it an instant classic,[a] a masterpiece,[b] and Beyoncé'smagnum opus.[161] AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a weighted average score of 92, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[162]
InSpin,Greg Tate callsLemonade "a triumph of marketing and musicality, spectacle and song, vision and collaboration,Borg-like assimilation, and — as of 2013 — the element ofsurprise". Lauding both the film and album, Tate writes "Visually, literarily, choreographically, cinematically, this full accessing of her Southern bona fides shows up in the HBO project as ritual evidence that Bey's spent her downtime delving into the avant-garde mysticism ofblack-feminist poetry, novel writing, dance, gallery art, and film... The album, however, is out to sonorously suck you into its gully gravitational orbit the old fashioned way, placing the burden of conjuration on its steamy witches' brew of beats, melodies, and heavy-hearted-to-merry-pranksterish vocal seductions. In her mastery of carnal and esoteric mysteries, Queen Bey raises the spirits, sizzles the flesh, and rallies her troops."[147]AllMusic writer Andy Kellman calledLemonade "culturally seismic" through its "layers of meaning and references, and experienced en masse through its televised premiere", adding that "the cathartic and wounded moments here resonate in a manner matched by few, if any, of Beyoncé's contemporaries."[73]
In a five-star review forRolling Stone,Rob Sheffield callsLemonade "a welcome reminder that giants still walk among us", describing it as an "album of emotional discord and marital meltdown... from the most respected and creative artist in the pop game". Sheffield writes "Lemonade is her most emotionally extreme music, but also her most sonically adventurous... Yet the most astounding sound is always Bey's voice", which is described as "her wildest, rawest vocals ever". Sheffield also comparesLemonade toAretha Franklin'sSpirit in the Dark andNina Simone'sSilk and Soul in the way that the album "reach[es] out historically, connecting her personal pain to the trauma of American blackness".[146] Ray Rahman forEntertainment Weekly agrees, writing thatLemonade is "a raw and intensely personal plunge into the heart of marital darkness" as well as "a feminist blueprint, a tribute to women, African-Americans, and, especially, African-American women". Rahman further praises the diversity of the album: "[Beyoncé] can dorock,blues,country,avant-garde, whatever.Lemonade stands as Bey's most diverse album to date. Sinister strip-club-in-the-futureR&B... sits right next to a slab of Texas twang.Led Zeppelin andSoulja Boy become bedfellows."[74]
Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian wrote that the album "feels like a success" and that Beyoncé sounded "genuinely imperious". Petridis praises the musical arc of the album, commenting on how the music "slowly works itself up into a righteous frenzy of anger, shifting from the becalmed misery of opener "Pray You Catch Me" via the sparse simmer of "Hold Up"... before finally boiling over on the fantastic "Don't Hurt Yourself": a ferocious, distorted vocal as commanding as anything she's recorded".[142]The Daily Telegraph writer Jonathan Bernstein felt it was her strongest work to date and "proves there's a thin line between love and hate."[141] Nekesa Moody and Mohamad Soliman fromThe Washington Post called the album a "deeply personal, yet ... a bold social and political statement as well".[163] Writing forThe New York Times,Jon Pareles praised Beyoncé's vocals and her courage to talk about subjects that affect so many people, and noted that "the album is not beholden to radio formats or presold by a single".[164]Greg Kot from theChicago Tribune felt that "artistic advances" seem "slight" in context towards the record's "more personal, raw and relatable" aspects, where it came out as a "clearly conceived" piece of music, meaning it had a "unifying vision" for what may have lent itself to being "a prettily packaged hodgepodge".[72]
Reviewing the album inThe Independent,Everett True wrote that it "is fiery, insurgent, fiercely proud, sprawling and sharply focused in its dissatisfaction", with Beyoncé "pick[ing] up the mantles of both"Prince andNina Simone.[143] Writing forSlate,Carl Wilson describesLemonade as "a spectacle to rivalThriller" and "a beautiful and often disturbing kaleidoscope of poetry, feminism, racial politics, history, mythology, emotional upheaval, family, and romance that can be watched again and again and will be for years to come".[165] Kitty Empire ofThe Observer writes that "female endurance and pragmatism are celebrated with warmth, anger and wit on this astounding visual album" and that "it's unlikely there will be many more albums this year that will unite high art and low in the same way as Beyoncé's jaw-slackening latest".[166] Jillian Mapes ofPitchfork wrote that "The increasingly signature cadence, patois, and all-around attitude onLemonade speaks to her status as the hip-hop pop star—but this being Bey, she doesn't stop there...Lemonade proves Beyoncé to also be a new kind of post-genre pop star".[145] InThe A.V. Club,Annie Zaleski wrote that it was "yet another seismic step forward for Beyoncé as a musician" that "pushes pop music into smarter, deeper places".[63]
Shahzaib Hussain, writing forClash, stated: "Lemonade is Beyoncé at her most benevolent, and her most unadulterated. Treating her blackness not as an affliction but a celebratory beacon,Lemonade is a long overdue, cathartic retribution."[167] Sal Cinquemani ofSlant Magazine wrote that the album "is her most lyrically and thematically coherent effort to date".[168]Maura Johnston ofTime wrote that its tracks were "fresh yet instantly familiar" with an "over-the-top but intimate" sound.[169] Jamie Milton ofDIY wrote that "there's so much more than an enthralling story to draw out of this all-slaying work", where "Beyoncé can count herself as a risk-taker breaking new ground, up there with the bravest."[170]Exclaim!'s Erin Lowers wrote that "If you've ever been handed lemons, you needLemonade", calling it "an album in which millions will find their own struggles reflected back to them, as therapeutic as it is utterly dazzling".[171] Britt Julious ofConsequence of Sound describes how "With nods toVoudou and Southern Black gothic storytelling,Lemonade, the visual album, wove chapters of emotional grief into a piece of art about the black woman... Separated from the visual, the album itself acts as dexterously as the film, exposing the rawest elements of Beyoncé's personal life while framing it against the universal — the machinations of internal paranoia, the all-consuming well of fury and anger, and the bottomless depths of sadness." Julious continues by praising thesong cycle nature of the album: "Taken as a whole, we hear the threads of this from song to song on the record. IfLemonade is a record about dismantling the cycles of abuse, ripping open the secrets we keep hidden (especially within the closely guarded black community), and finding healing, purpose, and even greatness in the process, then it is personified in the arcs of each track... The songs stand as joined entities, two dichotomous halves of the grief process".[172]PopMatters writer Evan Sawdey felt few albums could ever be considered "as bold, complex, or resolute asLemonade,"[75] and theBBC's Mark Savage, describingLemonade as "an album with a complex narrative arc... that demands to be heard in one sitting", noted that Beyoncé had become an albums artist with a range extending beyond that of radio play.[173]
In January 2025,Lemonade was named byRolling Stone as the greatest album of the 21st century.[213]Consequence of Sound named Lemonade the second best album of the last 15 years (2007–2022).[214]BBC Radio 4's namedLemonade the eighth greatest risk in 21st century art, with the judges saying that Beyoncé "resisted the commercial pressure not to be political in order to stand up for what she believed in and let audiences into her personal life as never before".[215]The Guardian listed it at number 25 on their ranking of the 100 best albums of the 21st century.[216]
In 2020,Parade namedLemonade the best music video of all time.[217] In 2017, the album was ranked at number 6 onNPR's list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women.[218]The Daily Telegraph namedLemonade the eighth greatest album of all time in 2025, withNeil McCormick describing it as a "bold, shapeshifting masterpiece channelling personal turmoil into visionary genre-hopping pop".[219] On their list of the top 100 albums of the publication's existence,The Quietus named the project at number 9.[220]Apple Music rankedLemonade at number 10 on their list of the100 Best Albums ever created.[221]Consequence of Sound namedLemonade the 18th greatest album of all time in 2022.[222]Lemonade is the 29th best album of all time byMetacritic score.[223] OnRolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list,Lemonade was placed at number 32, citing the album's exploration of "the betrayals of American blackness" and "all of the country's music traditions".[224]Paste listed the album at number 55 on their list of the 300 Greatest Albums of All Time.[225]
Lemonade won aPeabody Award in Entertainment, along with the following description by the board of jurors:[231]
Adroitly bringing together stories about betrayal, renewal, and hope,Lemonade draws from the prolificliterary,musical,cinematic, andaesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation. Defying genre and convention,Lemonade immerses viewers in the sublime worlds ofblack women, family, and community where we experience poignant and compelling stories about the lives ofwomen of color and the bonds of friendship seldom seen or heard in Americanpopular culture. This innovative and stunningly beautiful masterpiece challenges us to readjust our visual and sonic antennae and invites a reckoning with taken for granted ideas about who we are. For the audacity of its reach and the fierceness of its vision in challenging our cultural imagination about the intimacies and complexities of women of color, we recognizeLemonade as a Peabody Award winner.—The George Foster Peabody Awards Board of Jurors
In the United States,Lemonade debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, with 653,000album-equivalent units, out of which 485,000 werepure album sales. This made the highest opening-week sales for a female act of the year. Subsequently, she broke the record she previously tied withDMX, by becoming the first artist in the chart's history to have their first six studio albums debut at number one.[250] In the same week, Beyoncé became the first female artist to chart twelve or more songs on the USBillboard Hot 100 at the same time, with every song on the album debuting on the chart.[251]
The album slipped from number one to number two in its second week, selling 321,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 196,000 were pure album sales. It remained at number two in its third week selling 201,000 album-equivalent units, out of which 153,000 were pure album sales.Lemonade was certifiedplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in June 2016. According toNielsen's 2016 year-end report, it had sold 1,554,000 copies and 2,187,000album-equivalent units in the United States.[252] Following its April 23, 2019, release on all streaming services,Lemonade returned to the top ten on theBillboard 200 at number nine,[253] while its only added song, the original demo of "Sorry", debuted at number nineteen on the USR&B Songs.[254] On May 20, 2019, the album was certified double platinum for shipments of two million copies, and triple platinum on June 13, 2019, for shipments of three million copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number one with sales of 33,000 copies.[255] By the end of 2016, the album had sold 138,000 album-equivalent units in Canada, out of which 101,000 were pure album sales.[256]
The album debuted at number one on theUK Albums Chart selling 73,000 copies in its first week of release, with 10,000 equivalent sales (14% of the total sales) accounting for streaming, marking the largest ever for a number-one album since the chart began including streaming.[257] The album marked the singer's third number-one album on the chart and was certified platinum by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) on September 9, 2016, for shipments of 300,000 copies.[257] All of the album's tracks also debuted within the top hundred of theUK Singles Chart.[258] As in the US, 2020 is the first year since release that the album has not appeared on the UK Chart.In Australia,Lemonade sold 20,490 digital copies in its first week, debuting atop theAustralian Albums Chart and becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the country.[259] It received a double platinum certification from theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2023, for sales of 140,000 equivalent units.[260]
Lemonade also peaked atop the charts in numerous European and Oceanic countries including Ireland and Belgium, where it spent five and seven weeks at the summit, respectively, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden.[261] In Brazil, it debuted at number one and received a platinum certification fromPro-Música Brasil.[262]
Lemonade has been credited with reviving the concept of an album in an era dominated bysingles andstreaming, and popularizing releasing albums with accompanying films. Jamieson Cox forThe Verge calledLemonade "the endpoint of a slow shift toward cohesive, self-centered pop albums", writing that "it's setting a new standard for pop storytelling at the highest possible scale".[263] Megan Carpentier ofThe Guardian wrote thatLemonade has "almost revived the album format" as "an immersive, densely textured large-scale work" that can only be listened to in its entirety.[264]Myf Warhurst onDouble J's "Lunch With Myf" explained that Beyoncé "changed [the album] to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept".[265]
Beyoncé's use of various genres onLemonade has been credited with setting the precedent for music to transcend genre, withNPR writing that the album "leads us to this moment where post-genre becomes a thing".[269][61] The use of various genres has also been credited with kickstarting the reclamation of certain genres by black people. "Daddy Lessons" has been credited as starting a trend of "pop stars toying with American West and Southern aesthetics,"[270] as well as setting the precedent for "The Yeehaw Agenda", the trend of reclaiming blackcowboy culture through music and fashion.[271][272] "Don't Hurt Yourself" has been credited with the reclaiming of rock by black women, with Brittany Spanos forRolling Stone writing that "the re-imagination of what rock can be and who can sing it by Beyoncé and her superstar peers is giving the genre a second life – and may be what can save it."[273]
Lemonade has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, including those pictured above
Several musicians were inspired byLemonade. American rapperSnoop Dogg named his fourteenth studio albumCoolaid (2016) afterLemonade.[274] American singerSabrina Carpenter creditedLemonade with inspiring her to not limit herself, explaining that the album "really transcended every genre" which made her "feel like I didn't have to just stay in a box from there on out".[275] American rapperCardi B was inspired byLemonade forAm I the Drama? (2025), which she said is "going to have myLemonade moments".[276] American singerFergie said that she was inspired byLemonade to create a visual counterpart for her albumDouble Dutchess (2017).[277] British girl groupLittle Mix citedLemonade as an inspiration for their albumGlory Days (2016).[278] NamingLemonade one of her favorite albums ever, English singer-songwriterEllie Rowsell ofWolf Alice said that it helped her to "put in more thought to what makes a good album flow".[279] American singerThe-Dream wrote a response toLemonade titled "Lemon Lean" in his EPLove You to Death, saying that the album changed the way people think about their relationships.[280][281] American singer-songwriterVictoria Monét citedLemonade as an inspiration for her work.[282] American comedianLahna Turner released a visual album entitledLimeade in homage toLemonade.[283] American singer Matt Palmer was inspired byLemonade to create his visual EPGet Lost.[284] American musicianTodrick Hall's second studio albumStraight Outta Oz was made as a visual album due toLemonade.[285] British singer-songwriterArrow Benjamin was also inspired byLemonade for his 2016 EPW.A.R. (We All Rise), saying: "Every piece on this project was created from a visual, so that's why I was extremely inspired when I sawLemonade."[286]
Ann Powers forNPR opined thatFiona Apple was influenced byLemonade when implementing black musical traditions on her 2020 albumFetch the Bolt Cutters,[287] whileJenna Wortham forThe New York Times drew a parallel between both albums as "blueprints for how to take in all that emotion and kind of how to push it back out in a way that's cathartic and constructive".[288] Dan Weiss ofBillboard wrote thatShania Twain'sNow "couldn't have existed without"Lemonade, as an album that "completely changed the course of breakup album history" in which the artist is "someone at their full creative peak pushing herself into new niches, dominating new musical territories".[289] Kadeen Griffiths fromBustle states thatLemonade, as an album that deals with issues related to black women, "paved the way" forAlicia Keys'Here andSolange'sA Seat at the Table.[290] Danielle Koku forThe Guardian stated thatLemonade aided the return of African mysticism to pop music, writing: "By taking African mysticism to the world stage, Beyoncé stripped it of its ancient pagan labels."[291] Many critics have noted thatJay-Z's thirteenth studio album4:44 (2017) is a response toLemonade, with Jay-Z referencing lines fromLemonade, such as the "You better call Becky with the good hair" line on Beyoncé's "Sorry", with Jay-Z retorting: "Let me alone, Becky" in "Family Feud".[292]
At the59th Annual Grammy Awards (2017),Adele dedicated herAlbum of the Year award to Beyoncé and said: "The artist of my life is Beyoncé... theLemonade album, is just so monumental."[293] In a 2021 interview withVogue, Adele claimed that Beyoncé should have won the said award instead of her. After the show, she went into Beyoncé's dressing room and "said to her, like, the way that theGrammys works, and the people who control it at the very, very top—they don't know what a visual album is. They don't want to support the way that she's moving things forward with her releases and the things that she's talking about." She revealed that the award she received in the mail was broken and that she wedged a lemon into the broken part, and went on to claim that, "[f]or [her] friends who arewomen of color, [Lemonade] was such a huge acknowledgment for them, of the sort of undermined grief that they go through."[294] American musicianStevie Wonder calledLemonade "a great work, a great art piece".[295]U2'sBono included "Freedom" in his "60 Songs That Saved My Life" project to celebrate his 60th birthday, writing: "In my 60 years, I was served many platters but rarely one like the Queen Bey's albumLemonade."[296]
Lemonade has inspired artists in media other than music, including art, literature, film, television, and theatre.Misha Green, creator of the 2020 television seriesLovecraft Country, described howLemonade inspired the direction and flow of the show's score, saying: "What Beyoncé did onLemonade, with bringing in the poems and taking us on this collage of a journey, that wasn't just music and visuals. [It was] also words and using those words as a score."[297]Bill Condon, director of the filmBeauty and the Beast (2017) says the visuals behindLemonade inspired him for the movie: "You look at Beyoncé's brilliant movieLemonade, this genre is taking on so many different forms... I do think that this very old-school break-out-into-song traditional musical is something that people understand again and really want.".[298]
TheRoyal National Theatre's 2018 production ofShakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra featured a costume inspired byLemonade, with costume designer Evie Gurney describing how she wanted to draw a parallel betweenCleopatra and Beyoncé, as the latter is "a woman in the public eye who was subject to a lot of scrutiny [and] actually created a platform for herself to take back the narrative of her own story, and it was an extraordinary act of power."[299] The character ofCatherine of Aragon in theWest End andBroadway musicalSix was inspired by "Lemonade-era Beyoncé".[300][301]Ellie Kendrick's 2018 playHole at theRoyal Court was described by its directors as "a stage version of Beyoncé'sLemonade album", as an artwork about feminism and historical oppression of women that consists of song, dance and spoken word.[302]
Fashion stylist Salvador Camarena paid homage toLemonade by designing a room dedicated to the album duringModernism Week, saying "That album is such a visually stunning album. There are so many iconic looks from the video, I kind of wanted to implement that world into that room."[303] Theyoung adultanthologyA Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell, which explores "the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic", has the aim of "evoking Beyoncé'sLemonade for a teen audience".[304] A 2017 video game titled "Lemonade Rage" was created in homage toLemonade and the "Hold Up" music video.[305] The cover ofMarvel's 2017America comic book paid homage to the "Formation" music video, with its illustrator saying "America is a comic that is all about representation, feminism and fighting for what's right... I could think of no better parallel than Beyoncé."[306]Marie Claire named lemonade drop as one of the most influential pop culture moments of the 2010s.[307]
The bee (left) and lemon (right)emojis took on symbolic meaning for fans following the release of the album, with an increase in 3.8 million posts using the emojis onTwitter.
Sales for Warsan Shire'schapbook "Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth" increased by 700 to 800% after her poetry was included in theLemonade film.[308] Beyoncé's mention ofRed Lobster in "Formation" increased sales at the restaurant chain by 33%, which made employees rename popular menu items after Beyoncé and call the effect the "Beyoncé Bounce".[309] Designers of the costumes that Beyoncé wore in theLemonade film spoke withComplex about the impact that this had on their careers; for example,Natalia Fedner, who designed Beyoncé's dress for "Hold Up", stated that because of the dress's inclusion in Lemonade, "I was on 'Entertainment Tonight' being hailed as a 'designer to watch'."[310] The inclusion of imagery from the 1991 filmDaughters of the Dust in the visuals forLemonade helped bring the film back to theatres, with directorJulie Dash stating thatLemonade "just took me places that I had not been seeing in a long, long time. It just re-confirmed a lot of things that I know to be true about visual style and visual metaphors. And the use of visual metaphors in creating, redefining, and re-framing a Creole culture within this new world."[311]
The popular "Lemonadebraids" hairstyle worn by black women is named after a hairstyle that Beyoncé wore inLemonade.[312][313] Georgia Murray forRefinery29 sourced the 2020 fashion trend of wearing yellow toLemonade, writing that Beyoncé's yellow dress in "Hold Up" "kickstarted an obsession with yellow that we're still seeing the effects of today".[314] The use of the lemon and beeemojis increased due to the release of Lemonade, with aTwitter spokesperson tellingTime: "BeforeLemonade, the lemon emoji had no meaning. Since the launch ofLemonade, the emoji has taken on a meaning of its own".[315] TheMTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Long Form Video, which Beyoncé ultimately won at the2016 MTV Video Music Awards, was reintroduced after 25 years due to theLemonade film.[316]
SNL produced two sketches onLemonade: one entitled "The Day Beyoncé Turned Black" after Beyoncé released the "unapologetically black" "Formation",[324] and the other entitled "Melanianade" which parodied the "Sorry" music video featuring impersonations ofDonald Trump's female family members and aides.[325] In aLate Night with Seth Meyers sketch titled "Beyoncé Lemonade Late Night Aftermath", females staffers empowered byLemonade paid homage to the visuals, costumes, songs and poetry featured in the film.[326]The Late Late Show with James Corden produced a parody entitled "Lemonjames: A Visual Monologue", whereJames Corden gave his monologue by recreating parts of theLemonade film such as the "Pray You Catch Me", "Don't Hurt Yourself" and "6 Inch" music videos.[327] ActressGoldie Hawn and comedianAmy Schumer produced a parody of "Formation".[328] The Season 2 premiere ofCrazy Ex-Girlfriend featured a musical number that was an homage toLemonade, including parodies of "Formation" and "Pray You Catch Me".[329]
For Beyoncé's 36th birthday, various black female public figures recreated a costume that Beyoncé wore in the "Formation" music video, includingMichelle Obama andSerena Williams.[330] The first episode of British comedianJames Acaster's 2020 podcast titledPerfect Sounds (in which Acaster discusses why 2016 was the greatest year in music with various comedians) featuredRomesh Ranganathan and focused on "the genius ofLemonade".[331][332]
Lemonade has also received notable attention from scholars and authors outside the music industry. In partnership with theZora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, a talk atSeminole State College "discussed how Beyoncé embodies the conjure woman in her iconic audiovisual workLemonade as a contemporary revision ofZora Neale Hurston's groundbreaking study of conjure and its place in Black women's spirit work."[333]Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) announced "TheLemonade Project", a twelve-month series of conversations centered around the visual album. The series will explore the themes of race, gender and class addressed by the album.[334]
Kinitra Brooks and Kameelah Martin produced "The Lemonade Reader", described as "an educational tool to support and guide discussions of the visual album at postgraduate and undergraduate levels, [which] critiquesLemonade's multiple Afrodiasporic influences, visual aesthetics, narrative arc of grief and healing, and ethnomusicological reach."[335]University of Texas at Austin professorOmise'eke Tinsley wrote a book entitledBeyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism that was released in 2018, which "analyzes Beyoncé's visual album,Lemonade, in relation to the sexuality and gender of Black women".[336]University of Albany professor Janell Hobson produced a lesson plan based on her class onLemonade, saying "Beyoncé'sLemonade stimulates class discussions and assignments as a highly visible pop project striving to create deeper conversations on the meanings of Blackness, womanhood, and feminism."[337]Dissect Podcast have since dedicated their sixth season to "Beyoncé's masterworkLemonade."[338] The host, Cole Cuchna and cohost Titi Shodiya, "make leaps of interpretative wonder, fusing insights, music theory, instrumentation, and lyric interpretation with social analysis to empower fans to build deeper connections with Beyoncé's artistry."[339]
In a 2020New York Times article titled "TheAfrican-American Art Shaping the 21st Century", which contained 35 prominent black artists talking about the work that inspires them most, American actressKerry Washington relayed aboutLemonade as a game changer "visually, musically, but also sociopolitically, and anthropologically.[340] The release of "Formation" and the consequent performance at theSuper Bowl 50 halftime show caused both conversation and controversy due to its "unapologetic Blackness". Many articles and think pieces were produced discussing the importance and meaning of the song and performance, such as theBBC, who produced an article entitled "Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance: Why was it so significant?",[341] andTheWrap, who produced an article entitled "Why Beyoncé's 'Formation' Matters So Much: A Perfectly Choreographed Political Debut Before 112 Million."[342]Lemonade as a whole also inspired many think pieces, particularly written by black women, that analyze the messages and significance of the album,[343][344][345] such as Miriam Bale forBillboard who namedLemonade "a revolutionary work ofblack feminism".[343]
Megan Carpentier ofThe Guardian named the album "a pop culture phenomenon" and wrote: "It is not an exaggeration to say that there is no other living musical artist who could ignite such a broad and unavoidable conversation just by releasing a new album – even a visual one."[346] Writing in the same publication, Syreeta McFadden noted that the "Formation" video depicts archetypal southern Black women "in ways that we haven't seen frequently represented in popular art or culture".[347] Melissa Harris-Perry ofTime magazine said that "Beyoncé publicly embraced explicitly feminist Blackness at a politically risky moment."[348] Candace McDuffie ofGlamour said withLemonade, the poignant magnum opus about the dynamic beauty of Black womanhood,Beyoncé became the cultural zeitgeist and reinforced the idea that anything she does causes pandemonium on a global scale.[349]
Since its release, the album has spawned a large syllabus of literature and academic studies.[350] TheUniversity of Texas at San Antonio offered a class in the Fall of 2016 based on the album. The course, titled "Black Women, Beyoncé and Popular Culture", explored how the visual album "is a meditation on contemporary Black womanhood," before advancing and diving into the "theoretical, historical, and literary frameworks of Black feminism," according to the syllabus.[351]TheUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosted a "Lemonade Week" in April 2017, which featured discussions on feminism, theatrical performances, celebrations of African-American women writers and poets, and choreography tutorials.[352]Harvard University hosted "The Lemon Drop": a discussion that explored the nuances ofLemonade.[353]University of Arkansas offered a course that analysed the influence of Black feminism on Beyoncé andLemonade.[354]University of Pennsylvania ran two courses that explored politics, race and gender through the study ofLemonade.[355][356]
Michigan State University hosted a discussion onLemonade as part of their series for "exchanging ideas and exploring the lived experiences of underrepresented and marginalized communities".[357]Chatham University based a writing class onLemonade, where "students get to examine how they fit into the power systems around them".[358]Valdosta State University offered a course onLemonade, "unpacking the many themes found in "Lemonade", including Black identity, feminism, marital infidelity, sisterhood, and faith."[359] TheCollege of Charleston hosted a discussion by Black feminist scholars, exploring "Beyoncé's use of southern landscape, Black women, music, and African-based spirituality".[360]University of North Georgia offered a class entitled "Okay, Ladies, Now Let's Get in Formation: Intersectional Feminism in Beyoncé's Lemonade" that explored the music, lyrics and visuals ofLemonade.[361]
^[a]Visual edition was released on CD/DVD, digital download andTidal.[363][364] CD/DVD edition does not include "Sorry" (original demo). Tidal edition additionally includes "Formation" (choreography version) video.[365]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Willman, Andrew Barker, Jem Aswad, Chris; Barker, Andrew; Aswad, Jem; Willman, Chris (December 20, 2019)."The Best Albums of the Decade".Variety.Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. RetrievedDecember 30, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Morris, Wesley; Wortham, Jenna (May 1, 2020)."Fiona Ex Machina".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. RetrievedJune 7, 2020.
^"Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".ČNS IFPI.Note: On the chart page, select19.Týden 2016 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
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