Beyonce’s Lemonade: A Jet Lag-Induced Review

What do you do in your tiny hotel room, when It’s 2 a.m. on a weekday 6 time zones away, and you’re as wide awake as an over-caffeinated owl, jet lagged like someone’s playing a prank on you?

Well, you give in to the media (social, especially) hype and watch Beyonce’s hour-long visual album.

I wouldn’t consider myself a member of the Beyhive. I mean, I’ll put “Single Ladies” on blast and unabashedly shake my jelly with the best of them, but I reserve the right to disapprove, or remain indifferent, if her music misses the mark for me.

That was the case with her self-titled album in 2014. I gave in to my curiosity and purchased it, only to be turned off by its gratuitous salaciousness. I suppose I just couldn’t relate.

Because of that disappointment, I was quite reluctant to check out her latest work. But I’m glad I did.

There’s a LOT going on in this album — visually, musically, prose-wise — but not in a distracting way. Rather, it’s packed with substance. You could watch it multiple times and each time come away with additional interpretations and new revelations.

After an initial viewing, here’s what stuck with me:

Seemingly autobiographical, but highly relatable.

My curiosity spans far and wide, but stops cold at the realm of celebrity gossip. I don’t know those people like that, so I don’t closely follow the details about who cheated on whom, or whose sister almost beat whose ass in an elevator (#teamsolange).

However in this video, I’m impressed that Beyonce seems to take charge of the narrative about her husband’s infidelity, and elevates it above the tabloid level. Her exploration of the complexity of emotions one feels in such a situation makes the video less People Mag, and a little more Toni Morrison. E.g. lyrics from “Love Drought”:

Ten times out of nine, I know you’re lying

But nine times outta ten, I know you’re trying

So I’m trying to be fair

And you’re trying to be there and to care

And you’re caught up in your permanent emotions

All the loving I’ve been giving goes unnoticed

It’s just floating in the air, lookie there

More importantly, there’s so much packed in that, I as a viewer, could relate to. For instance themes of working through pain, self empowerment, authenticity, and more:

“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 kit. Broke the curse with your own two hands. You passed these instructions down to your daughter who then passed it down to her daughter.”

Like good art is prone to do, this work draws you in and lets you interpret its messages through your own lens. I believe a wide variety of people could pull from it, even dudes (well, maybe the more evolved dudes).

Beyond Poppin Beats — Poetry that Moves.

Poetry by Warsan Shire, a Somali-British poet laureate, is recited by Bey throughout the video. I mean, I had to look the girl up because her. words. are. fire:

“I whipped my own back and asked for dominion at your feet. I threw myself into a volcano. I drank the blood and drank the wine. I sat alone and begged and bent at the waist for God. I crossed myself and thought I saw the devil. I grew thickened skin on my feet, I bathed in bleach, and plugged my menses with pages from the holy book, but still inside me, coiled deep, was the need to know … Are you cheating on me?”

The provocative prose added many layers of depth and gravitas to what would have otherwise been a super long music video. The images she conjures, combined with the artistry in the visuals and general mood of the video, was pure chemistry.

The Real Value is in the Details.

The visual album is done very much in the style of the Formation video. So you probably expect good music and something visually interesting. But what makes it worth spending an hour of your valuable time is the culmination of several small, but expertly executed creative decisions.

For instance, at about 50 minutes in, there’s a scene set in the country where an audience of girls in white faces a small stage. Beyonce is revealed and begins singing in acapella. Just as you think the whole song is in acapella, a fantastic beat drops. Breathtaking.

And in another scene, an actress sitting on a porch is framed so exactly that a long leaf in the foreground covers only her eyes. Who thinks of that?! Excellent.

The cinematography is world class. The cuts, camera angles, framing, coloring, staging, none of it is taken for granted. The costumes themselves, are characters, underlining the themes of vulnerability, pain, power.

BTW one of those power costumes is made with West African fabric. I noticed it instantly. I was at once proud for my culture to be represented on such a large stage, but also dismayed that its specialness could be diluted by being part of Western pop culture.

Just one more detail that stuck in my head. There were so many, and I’m sure many others that I missed. That’s what makes Lemonade worth signing up for a free trial of TIDAL.

And now that the rest of the city is awake, I gotta go take a nap.