Re-Squeezing Lemonade: Behind Beyoncés Brilliance

February 13, 2017

I re-listened to Lemonade after the Grammys last night and was compelled to write this.

Lemonade is one of the definitive projects of the decade — it communicates an overarching story of receiving heartbreak from the one whom it hurts the most to receive it from, while also addressing what's important in the black struggle, womanhood, and the constant challenge to be. It does so in nuanced ways and not-so-nuanced ways. It shares something so sacredly personal but so resonant to those struggling with similar strife’s. Beyonce operates in the pocket that few artists of all art forms are capable of tapping into: the realm of relevance and resonating.

Technically, the delivery and incorporation of outside influences from the Beyoncé’s sound melt together, still exhibiting Beyoncés signature and iconic bravado, beauty, fierceness, and unapologetic angst. The entire project is sonically cinematic, structurally evoking, seamlessly assembled.

The contributions to Lemonade brings in influences from every form of culturally resonating music --- Jack White's rock elements, Ezra Koenig’s indie vibes, Diplo’s wavy bounce, James Blake’s chilling vocals, Kendrick Lamar’s stinging bars, The Dream’s soft touch, & The Weeknd's featherweight flow. A star-studded cast to say the least. It's as if every culturally relevant and successful artist had to pay tribute to the artist of our generation by putting pieces of themselves and their sound into Beyonce's magnum opus.

“Daddy Lessons” is the one track that exudes the range of musical style that Beyoncé has been able to master --- it's pretty much her flexing that she can execute any genre of music and be better at it than you. The reason why I choose to highlight “Daddy Lesson’s” is because of its sheer ability to convey Beyonce’s other-worldly talent — the winner of the “Best Urban Contemporary album” successfully made a hit country song. Had it got more attention, it could’ve restructured all of country music as we know it.

Jazz, blues, and gospel are the prevalent tones of the project, laying the foundation for the entire sound. Beyoncé uses the genres soaked with hurt and struggle— the blues, jazz and gospel sounds — to convey her own pain, but uses flares of electric dance music, soul, R&B, hip hop, and indie rock to translate the message of squeezing out the best in everything. She seemingly toys around with the layers and structure of all popular music and somehow puts together an honest, bare, and complete tribute to all of music as a medium of art --- as an essential facet of human living. To hurt. To capture. To express. To sing. To listen. To feel. To commiserate. To teach. To share. To refresh.

Adele’s gesture is the gesture culture needed but would never admit it wanted — it speaks on the ultimate recognition of artistry. Game recognize game. Adele broke her award in half — something not nationally televised, might I add — and shared it with Beyonce. Its a gesture that is self conscious in a way that serves as a bridge from industry fiction, to musical truth. It's a gesture that the powers-that-be may have the authority on industry-made awards, but have no control on the emotions and intrinsic capital that the artists and fans take away from music. In other words, you can manufacture made-up value in trophy-form, but you can’t create emotions and human connection in the raw and natural way that music and musicians can. Industrys make awards. Artists make magic. What up Frank.

This gesture by Adele is a sobering moment of self-realization —it’s a realtime look into being… real. It shows Beyonce’s magical presence and influence on someone as significant as Adele — to be able to cause Adele to share her feeling of Lemonade’s true valor and impact on the Grammy stage, at the expense of casting her album “25” in the shade. Beyonce’s infectious ability to have others fight for her is insightful — the same way Kanye West(infamously so), Solange(also infamously so), and all of the beyhive have done. People rally behind Beyonce because what she’s fighting for is worth fighting for. The gesture helps for recognizing the reality and magnitude of a situation, and acting on it as best as one can. Seeing something wrong, calling it out for what it is, and doing something about it. Doing what you can with the position you are in. It's simply a gesture, but a gesture that's simply needed. Especially now. 

Beyonce’s too-oft episodes with losing big awards and her superhuman ability to not only recover, but triumph is the truest testament to art and life. Her virtuosic approach to life is the following: to flex, regardless, respectfully, relevantly, and in a resonating way. She takes losses on the world stage, gets critiqued by everyone, but nevertheless, she persists.

Beyoncé is one of the special artists of our generation, and as long as she continues to produce lemons in art form, the world will continue to squeeze up that art and create sweet, life-enriching lemonade because of it.