Lemonade by Beyonce

Send us Fan Mail

What makes Lemonade a classic rather than simply an important album is that it works on every level and all at once. As a confessional portrait of a marriage in crisis it's riveting. As a celebration of Black female strength and resilience it's genuinely moving. As a piece of sonic architecture it's endlessly rich and surprising. And as a piece of pop craftsmanship — the hooks, the production, the sheer physical pleasure of the music — it delivers everything you could ask of an album while asking far more of the listener than pop music typically does.

Lemonade did what the very greatest records do: it expanded the idea of what a pop album could be, how much weight it could carry, how many truths it could hold at once. It took the most private possible subject matter and made it universal. It took a woman at the apex of global fame and made her feel achingly, recognisably human. It took the oldest story — betrayal, grief, forgiveness — and told it in a way that felt completely of its moment and completely timeless.

Featured songs:

Pray You Catch Me
Hold Up
Daddy Lessons
Sandcastles
All Night
Formation