Beyoncé: Lemonade

Beyoncé is one of the most well known music artists of her time, starting off as a member of the group Destiny’s Child and then continuing on to creating a personal brand for herself by going solo. Her reputation exceeds many of those in her field and she has no intention of slowing down.

Her most recent visual album, and probably her most emotionally invested one to date is her Lemonade album that was released this year. When she released this album, it was formed into a beautifully flowing movie, filled with her passion for music, along with images that supported her political and cultural views on society. But, the underlying story of the album was actually based on her husband and rapper, Jay-Z, having an affair with another woman. The video production of the whole thing guided audiences through all of the intense emotions people feel when they experience being cheated on. Beyoncé’s powerful lyrics and videos in the visual album intertwined the advice from her loving family members, as well as words of confidence and strength. Being an artist beyond her musical talents, her decisions to add visuals of black culture and sounds deriving from New Orleans made this album unique and entertaining.

After the release of Lemonade, everyone knew about her personal life and the affair, which in my opinion worked to her advantage. The sympathy from her fans guided them to listen and/or download the album which is good business all in itself. A twist to the story is Tidal, a new music streaming platform created by Jay-Z, was the only outlet in which you could listen and download her new album. A mere 24 hours later, the album was available on iTunes for purchase. In regards to other streaming platforms, like Spotify, it still is not offered anywhere else other than Tidal. This created a demand for her music while also promoting Tidal. This album eventually led to her most recent tour, Lemonade.

Some may say that the entire affair was a publicity stunt to promote the visual album and the new streaming platform created by her husband. Whatever the truth may be, Beyoncé gained not only more moral support from her fans, but also promoted herself and her music effortlessly: just like usual.