Beyonce Drops Fierce Fashionable Lemonade – and Gets Everyone Talking!
Raw, honest, powerful, fashionable, fun, inspirational, angry…these are just a few words which have been used to describe Beyonce’s new album, and accompanying hour long video, Lemonade. The album has a few ‘feels’ and isn’t strictly R&B, Pop, or Country – yet encompasses all of those genres. Queen B takes us through several emotions, gives us a glimpse into her life, lays out the experiences of black women, shouts out several powerful messages, and hints at a few more.
Beyonce explains Lemonade right in the lyrics of the album: “Take one pint of water, add a half pound of sugar, the juice of eight lemons, the zest of half lemon. Pour the water into one, then to another several times. Strain through a clean napkin. 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 kitchen. Broke the curse with your own two hands. You passed these instructions down to your daughter, who then passed them down to her daughter.”
The Internet has been buzzing since the album and video were released, with people breaking down the meaning – some supporting, some criticizing, and a lot of overall shouts of ‘women power’ and praise for her speaking up about ‘black issues’. When Beyonce alludes to the long-standing rumours of husband Jay Z’s cheating, fans trying to figure out who ‘Becky with the good hair’ is caused an uproar on several celebrity Instagram accounts. However Jay Z appears later on in the video, along with Blue Ivy, so things appear to be status quo with the hot couple.
Styled by Marni Senofonte, who has also created many of Beyonce’s past video looks, fashionistas were not disappointed as the video was filled with Beyonce looking fierce and telling a true fashion story! Senofonte told the New York Times: "There was a lot of African print and gold. Royal, regal African images. There was a lot of white, antebellum vibes and hats and collars, vintage Gaultier and McQueen."
27-year old Somali-British poet Warsan Shire, who was named 2013’s Young Poet Laureate for London has been thrust further into the spotlight, as she authored of some of the album’s spoken word poetry sections.
RELATED ARTICLES |
| Ivy Park – Beyonce’s Highly Anticipated Athleisure Line » |
Powerful views of the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding photographs of their dead sons, along with cameos from strong, black celebrities such as Serena Williams, Zendaya, Winnie Harlow, and Amandla Stenberg, inspired discussion and led to the hashtag #LEMONADE on Twitter.
One of the very best messages in the video comes from Jay Z’s Grandmother, Hattie – shown on her 90th birthday sharing her memories and saying: “I was given lemons and I made lemonade.”
