After landing in LA yesterday afternoon, I made it over to Angel Haze’s to see the premiere of Beyonce’s LEMONADE on HBO. After Formation’s release and unapologetically black and empowering message, the bar was set high, but there is no-one that has had the ability to surpass their own creative work in the last half decade than Beyonce herself. Lemonade is no disappointment. The HBO hour-long special was a beautifully cinematic story on power, forgiveness, awareness, POC empowerment, identity but also reflections on a very human side of the artist.
On a video level, Beyonce partnered with a lot of the same collaborators that brought to life BEYONCE visually including Jonas and Bea Ackerlund, Khalil Joseph and Melina Matsoukas. Shot primarily in New Orleans adds a sense of dark nostalgic sentiment which is consistent through the story arch of LEMONADE. Poetry featured includes Somali-British Poet Warsan Shire and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Personal favourite sonic highlights include Daddy Lessons, 6 Inch with The Weeknd, which despite the rather saturated market sounds, still feels fresh, Forward featuring James Blake(!) and Freedom with Kendrick. The Kanye sound you hear on Love Drought is of course Mike Dean. Also, special congrats have to go to my boy MNEK for Hold Up and Wynter Gordon who wrote three songs on the record (Don’t Hurt Yourself, Sorry and Daddy Lessons).
Seeing the public reaction has been so interesting over the last (less than) 24 hours – from confusion to outright ignorance, but hey, welcome to Amerikkka. Thank you Beyonce for existing and bringing this body of work and message to the forefront at the same time as showcasing your poetic artistry.
LEMONADE is exclusively on TIDAL for now.