Nowadays, dominating culture imposes in society its own constructs, beauty standards, and beliefs upon one of the most unprotected social groups in America, which are black women. The depreciation of black women has been around since time immemorial and is yet to be stopped. However, in recent years the situation began to change when the black community became more resilient and brave in representing itself.
Pop music also started to transform with this trend, now it “profits from subcultural sounds and aesthetics that used to evade and challenge it what used to kill it now makes it stronger, as Nietzsche would say” (Robin 11). The album Lemonade by an American singer Beyoncé is one of the brightest examples when an artist portrays the elements of her culture in her music. Besides, by narrating her heartbreaking personal story through songs and music videos, Beyoncé raises the burning issues of women of her race.
Unfortunately, the attempts to represent the life and problems of minorities were mostly seized by dominating culture. That is why accurate images and representations of Black people have always been important to the Black community (Williams 8). Many artists of color found a way to express themselves by means of music, especially rap and hip-hop. Rose states that “rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society” (Rose 3). Beyoncé can certainly be considered as one of the rappers who continue to create music that represents the ideas, viewpoints, and experiences of racially marginalized groups in America.
Lemonade is the sixth studio album that was released on April 23, 2016. This album contains twelve tracks that differ from her previous works, which mostly featured R&B songs. Instead, songs of Lemonade can be identified by a variety of genres like hip hop, electronic, pop, trap, etc. Lemonade follows the narrative of a woman whose husband has been cheating on her, and the emotional journey from suspecting it to condemning it and leaving him, before finally forgiving him and deciding to give their marriage another try. Beyoncé exposes a variety of themes like dealing with racial oppression, not feeling good enough because of beauty standards that black women do not fit into.
However, aside from dealing with heartbreak and betrayal, the artist explores topics of black womanhood and black female sexuality. Furthermore, in her music videos, Beyoncé hints at misogyny and the historical impact of slavery, police brutality, and federal mismanagement on the life of black people. Through the lyrics and visuals, she demonstrates her appreciation for her race and culture. The visual album is still celebrated for initiating conversations about Black feminism and the particularity of the black female experience.
The title of the album itself indicated how the songs are meant to extend beyond the personal narrative of Beyoncé. While lemons represent the bitter hardships of life, Lemonade represents something positive and healthy. It addresses the African-American expression of making the way out of a hopeless situation, celebrating the legacy of black women’s historical and current resilience. A bold resistance to ill ideologies of sexism and racism is expressed in the lyrics.
Beyoncé rejects traditional views on beauty: “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” (“Formation”). The artist not only implements both the personal and the political into her lyrics, but she also frames the personal as political and vice versa. For instance, in “Formation,” Beyoncé makes clear references to Texas, which is the state she was born in. Moreover, in the song “Freedom,” she sings about ending discrimination along with Kendrick Lamar. “Yeah, open our mind as we cast away oppression. Yeah, open the streets and watch our beliefs” (“Freedom”).
However, the lyrical aspect is not the only significant aspect of this album. The visual aspect also plays a big role in representing the artist’s ideas. The music from Lemonade standing alone creates a completely different experience than watching the full visual album with the songs stitched together in a specific narrative order. Along with music videos, the album features a number of references to cultures of different regions in America and Africa. This includes hairstyles, outfits, and even specific regional settings. For example, in a “Sorry” music video (“Sorry”), the hairstyles of dancers resemble traditional African braids and curls, while their white make-up takes inspiration from African masks.
Finally, at the end of the music video, Beyoncé is portrayed with a hairstyle that looks similar to a famous Nefertiti’s cone-shaped headdress. In addition, apart from direct cultural references, she also subtly touches upon various historical figures that were somehow linked with the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. For instance, in “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” Beyoncé makes direct reference to a picture of Rosa Parks by a bus window (Hartmann). Furthermore, Martin Luther King Jr is also subtly mentioned in the music video for “Formation,” where he is seen on the cover of the newspaper “The Truth.”
The song “Formation” and its music video (“Formation”) have a great significance not only to Beyoncé but to black women’s culture as well. It ties the album together beautifully, ending with the message of empowerment. This song comments on oppression against people of color in the United States: however, it also represents their resistance, which never ended since the end of slavery. In addition, the music video has the biggest amount of meaningful details like leather clothes and black berets worn by the main singer and the dancers.
Those outfits represent the clothes of supporters of the political organization Black Panther for Self-Defense. Moreover, at the end of the song, Beyoncé is fully submerged in water while lying on the roof of a New Orleans police car. This scene represents the brutality of New Orleans police that took the lives of many people of color not long after Hurricane Katrina.
In conclusion, it would appear that Lemonade not only shares a personal experience of the singer; it also touches upon relevant issues of black women in the U.S. The unity of American women of color in this album encourages a prideful consciousness that is free of misogynistic and racist values. According to Gerard, “it mirrors what black women must examine, own and empower in a predominantly white culture today” (127). With powerful lyrics and clear visuals, Beyoncé presents a strong role model that shows the true potential of a black woman. The mood of the album is radical, even furious, but confident and proud nonetheless. All those aspects make Lemonade unique in its own way while holding a great significance to the Beyoncé audience, who experience current racial and social issues firsthand.
Works Cited
Conyers Jr, James L. Black Americans in Higher Education: Africana Studies: A Review of Social Science Volume 8. Routledge, 2020.
“Formation”. YouTube, uploaded by Beyoncé. 2016. Web.
Hartmann, Johanna. “Sound, Vision, and Embodied Performativity in Beyoncé Knowles’ Visual Album Lemonade.” European Journal of American Studies, vol. 12, no. 4, 2016.
Robin, James. Resilience and Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism. Winchester: Zero Books, 2015.
Rose, Tricia. “Voices from the Margins: Rap Music and Contemporary Black Cultural Production. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America.” United States of America: University P of New England, American Music, vol. 14, no. 2, 1996.
“Sorry”. YouTube, uploaded by Beyoncé. 2016. Web.
Williams, Faith G. “Afrocentrism, Hip-Hop, and the “Black Queen: Utilizing Hip-Hop Feminist Methods to Challenge Controlling Images of Black Women.” McNair Scholars Research Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2017, pp. 210-223.