April 23, 2016, will forever be known as the night Beyonce exploded the internet. That day, Beyonce released her very anticipated sixth studio album entitled "Lemonade," and with that album she released her second "visual album," which aired on HBO that Saturday night. Ever since that fateful day, the special has sparked controversy, opinions, praise, anger, and the confusing roasting of celebrities such as Rachel Roy, Rachel Ray and Rita Ora. Not even two months after the unforgettable "Formation" Super Bowl performance, she is back in the news again for not only igniting political comments from every news broadcaster and celebrity, but also singing on personal subjects such as her husband Jay Z's supposed infidelity and the relationship between her and her father.
Personally, I thought the hour-long video was inspiring, even magical. The merging of poetry, music, and dance truly satisfied the artistic side of me. But, unfortunately, the rest of the world failed to see the beauty in the video. The only thing most people got out of the hour long special was the implication of Jay Z's disloyalty through the petty comment, "He better call Becky with the good hair." After watching the special seven times and buying the album, I saw past the aesthetics of the video and really understood the deep message Beyonce was trying to convey. She was giving the world a glimpse inside the life of an African-American woman, actually women in general. The hardships our ancestors went through, the feeling of no one caring about the hard work they did, the skin issues, and the "Black-girl magic" was all portrayed so perfectly in the video.
Not only did she feature various African-American celebrities and models, but she included real-life African-American women, which made the video even more raw. She emphasized from the beginning to the end that it is OK to get angry and want to destroy stuff when someone you care about wrongs you, because at the end of the day you will forgive them and still love them. She featured the mothers of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin to let all of us remember to never forget about their untimely deaths. My favorite part about the entire special was that she connected with her South Louisiana roots, and as a born-and-raised Louisiana girl, I truly appreciated this. Beyonce touched on issues that most artists are afraid to touch on because of the backlash they will receive.
I think it is brave that she did this and if I were not a broke college student, I would totally pay to go to her concert. All in all, the visual album was a story of pain, forgiveness, redemption, celebration, love, and self-love. I recommend everybody to start a free three-month trial on Tidal so you all can experience this masterpiece. It was refreshing, like an ice-cold glass of lemonade.
