![]() ![]() “I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.” An elderly woman’s voice cuts in: "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up,” she says. There’s one moment critical to understanding the emotional and cultural heft of Lemonade-Beyoncé’s genre-obliterating blockbuster sixth album-and it arrives at the end of “Freedom,” a storming empowerment anthem that samples a civil-rights-era prison song and features Kendrick Lamar. It’s the perfect lead-in to the album closer “SUMMER RENAISSANCE,” which propels the dreamy escapist disco of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” even further into the future. And on “PURE/HONEY,” Beyoncé immerses herself in ballroom culture, incorporating drag performance chants and a Kevin Aviance sample on the first half that give way to the disco-drenched second half, cementing the song as an immediate dance-floor favorite. “CHURCH GIRL” fuses R&B, gospel, and hip-hop to tell a survivor’s story: “I'm finally on the other side/I finally found the extra smiles/Swimming through the oceans of tears we cried.”Īn explicit celebration of Blackness, “COZY” is the mantra of a woman who has nothing to prove to anyone-“Comfortable in my skin/Cozy with who I am,” ” Beyoncé muses on the chorus. There are soft moments here, too: “I know you can’t help but to be yourself around me,” she coos on “PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA,” the kind of warm, whispers-in-the-ear love song you’d expect to hear at a summer cookout-complete with an intricate interplay between vocals and guitar that gives Beyoncé a chance to showcase some incredible vocal dexterity. RENAISSANCE is playful and energetic in a way that captures that Friday-night, just-got-paid, anything-can-happen feeling, underscored by reiterated appeals to unyoke yourself from the weight of others’ expectations and revel in the totality of who you are.įrom the classic four-on-the-floor house moods of the Robin S.- and Big Freedia-sampling lead single “BREAK MY SOUL” to the Afro-tech of the Grace Jones- and Tems-assisted “MOVE” and the funky, rollerskating disco feeling of “CUFF IT,” this is a massive yet elegantly composed buffet of sound, richly packed with anthemic morsels that pull you in. Crafted during the grips of the pandemic, her seventh solo album is a celebration of freedom and a complete immersion into house and dance that serves as the perfect sound bed for themes of liberation, release, self-assuredness, and unfiltered confidence across its 16 tracks. Outside of its singles, Lemonade’s most popular album track in the UK is the country-flecked Daddy Lessons, which was remixed to feature country band The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks).Unique, strong, and sexy-that’s how Beyoncé wants you to feel while listening to RENAISSANCE.The highest charting was Hold Up at Number 17. In the week following its surprise release, all 12 of Lemonade’s tracks have appeared on the Official Singles Chart Top 100.The album’s total UK chart sales stand at 484,000, making it Platinum-certified. Lemonade finished as the UK’s 11 th biggest album of 2016. ![]() View the chart from the week it was Number 1 here. That figure is even more impressive when you consider it is based on five days of sales and streams, as it was released on a Sunday rather than Friday. Lemonade debuted at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart with first-week chart sales of 73,000.The least popular track appears to be Forward, with 4.2 million plays. The album’s most-streamed song is Formation, just shy of 30 million plays. Lemonade’s 12 tracks have been streamed 174.8 million times in the UK, according to Official Charts Company data.It made a huge impact on the charts across the world, not least on the Official UK Chart. The genre-hopping record spawned five singles - Formation, Sorry, Hold Up, Freedom and All Night - and included guest features from Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Jack White and James Blake. Lemonade was surprise-released on April 23. “As I celebrate five years of LEMONADE, I encourage everyone to continue healing, loving, forgiving and uplifting.” “I’m so thankful for all the beautiful souls involved in making one of my favorite pieces of art. A post shared by Beyoncé grateful that this body of work has resonated so deeply with so many people,” she wrote. ![]()
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