How Beyoncé Channels Powerful Goddesses Through Fashion in Lemonade.
By Alex Anderson
Beyoncé is a goddess herself, however, in Lemonade: the visual album, Beyoncé pulls strength from other powerful Goddesses as she progresses through the different stages of Lemonade.
Lemonade: the visual album, represents the timeline of Beyoncés emotions as she processes her husband’s (Jay-Z) shocking betrayal of cheating on her. There are 12 stages in Lemonade that illustrate Beyoncé’s reaction to Jay-Z’s infidelity that include: intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, loss, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, resurrection, hope, and redemption.
Throughout each of these stages, fashion is used to depict goddesses and deities that Beyoncé embodies to draw from their power as she heals from the betrayal. Using colors that are associated with these deities or goddesses, strategic posing, and symbolism, Beyoncé is able to represent these figures in a 21st century style to show appreciation for African and Haitian culture. The goddesses and deities that Beyoncé embodies are Oshrun, Erzulie Red-Eyes, and Nefertiti, according to Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley.
The first goddess we see Beyoncé embody is Oshrun, the African goddess of Yoruba religion of fertility, love, and freshwater. Oshun, while the goddess of love and fertility, can become a destructive agent when people do something wrong. When angry, Oshun uses water as a mechanism to punish the wrongdoers and to express her anger. Orshun is often associated with the colors of yellow and gold and the symbol of water.
When Oshun appears in Lemonade, Beyoncé is in the stage of “denial”. In this stage, Beyoncé is wearing a long yellowish-gold dress, smiling, laughing, and wielding a baseball bat as she walks through the street hitting fire hydrants. When we first see Beyoncé appearing as Oshun, she emerges from behind two golden doors as water pours out onto the steps below. Along with the yellow dress, Beyoncé has gold accessories including earrings, bracelets, rings, and a necklace. During the “denial” stage of Lemonade, Beyoncé has now reached the feeling of anger towards Jay-Z. When both Oshun and Beyoncé are betrayed, anger and destruction occur usually in the form of water.
The next goddess we see is Erzulie Red-eyes, the haitian goddess who has influence over protecting children from harm. The colors that are associated with Erzuli Red-Eyes are scarlet and crimson, both are versions of red. The symbols that are commonly seen along Erzuli Red-Eyes are fire and red eyes.
Erzuli Red-Eye appears during the “anger” and “emptiness” stages of Lemonade. When Beyoncé personifies Erzuli Red-Eyes, she is wearing a large, scarlet colored dress with uncombed hair and a large necklace. In “emptiness”, Beyoncé also has a headpiece on along with the scarlet dress. There are multiple scenes during these stages of Lemonade where fire is present when Beyoncé appears as Erzuli Red-Eyes and even when she doesn’t. Beyoncé is filled with rage and anger directed towards Jay-Z since he has betrayed her. Through channeling Erzuli Red-Eyes, Beyoncé is able to express her anger towards Jay-Z because he not only betrayed her, he has betrayed their daughter, Blue Ivy, as well.
The next deity that Beyoncé embodies is the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. Nefertiti has been described as independent, beautiful, strong, and sensual. Additionally, Nefertiti is associated with fertility. Nefertiti translates to “the beautiful on has come”. Nefertiti is commonly identified today by her bust that was found in 1912. The bust shows off Nefertiti’s beauty and her extravagant, recognizable headdress.
In “Apathy”, which takes place right after “anger”, Beyoncé takes the form of Nefertiti. During this phase of Lemonade, Beyoncé has an uninterested, indifferent attitude in response to Jay-Z’s cheating. Beyoncé is shown with her hands behind her back accentuating her head and neck, a braided hairstyle that resembles Nefertiti’s famous crown, and a silver bra top to show the audience her beauty. Beyoncé is channeling the beauty and independence that is associated with Nefertiti at this point in the story of Lemonade while also drawing some of Nefertiti’s power and her friends’ support as she navigates Jay-Z’s infidelity.
The representation of these goddesses and deities occur in “denial”, “anger”, and “apathy” stages, which happen fairly early in the Lemonade timeline. Beyoncé utilizes these goddesses and deities’ power early in her healing process since she has little strength in herself and has yet to realize her own worth. Beyoncé then transitions into leaning on her friends in this time of need. Towards the end of Lemonade, Beyoncé recognizes her own power in herself as a woman, not needing to pull any strength from others, she now has the strength within herself.
At the surface level, Beyoncé’s Lemonade travels in depth to Beyoncé’s own personal story surrounding Jay-Z’s cheating scandal, however, when taking a closer look at the visual album, Lemonade also references many famous individuals through audio clips, cameos, and Beyoncé’s 21st century representation of ancient goddesses and deities through calculated pieces of clothing, jewelry, makeup, and hairstyles.
