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4 years ago today, Beyoncé released Lemonade. Winner of a Peabody award and topping several decade-end lists, it became the most awarded album ever. Here’s a thread reviewing the themes of every chapter in this masterpiece.
Intuition is the first of 12 tales in Lemonade. The obstructive view Warsan Shire provides in “I tried to make a home out of you/ doors lead to trapdoors/ a stairway..to nothing” uncovers the stigmas that limit black women from illuminating the weaknesses in their marriage.
The paranoia Beyoncé experiences serves as a metaphorical veil that masks the turbulent experiences of black womanhood and her interjection “What are you hiding?” provides an opening into a discussion of the issues that intersect to construct the lived experience of a black woman
The next chapter, Denial, reflects the wider feelings of inadequacy that black woman reject when attempting to evade the labels and stereotypes that impinge upon them in a troubled marriage.
It is often the wider world’s role in scapegoating women and their transgressions as the main cause of a marriage’s collapse or downfall.
Submerged underwater in a bedroom, Beyoncé’s attempt to “change herself” is misguided as she is not at fault. This idea is echoed in Audre Lorde’s words “is it Black women who must bend and alter our lives to compensate, or is it society that needs changing?” (Lorde, 61).
Beyoncé’s attempt to alter herself shows the ‘loss of self’ black woman undergo to account for the shortcomings that other parties in their lives have enacted.
In anger, Beyoncé takes full control. Shots of her strutting, sneering and lunging at the camera are scattered among images of black woman in robes with long sleeves stretching and rotating their arms. “I can wear her skin over mine”.
The clinical nature of Beyoncé’s words amplifies the transcendent mood of the empty parking lot and stairwell’s setting and reflect the ability of black woman to constantly mould themselves in conforming to predetermined ideals.
Reversed footage at times provides a literal showcase of this transformative ability.The rugged SUV and graffitied walls posit the setting as a lens into Bey’s conflicted,but defiantly powerful state of mind against the pressures black women feel to transform in order to appease.
In Apathy, the intention is clear. Beyoncé is indifferent, independent and uncaringly confident. Serena Williams’ cameo in this segment provides a defiant angle in encouraging black women to cultivate and own their success, loving themselves in their independence.
The ‘Boy Bye’ bus on which Beyoncé and women painted in the ‘Sacred Art of the Ori’ sit serves as an extended metaphor for Beyoncé’s death, echoing the mention of a ‘funeral’ at the commencement of the chapter.
Beyoncé fosters a spiritual connection with the women on the bus through her dissociative, spiritual positioning, tracing the way black women find self-love and healing through union, dance and celebration.
Emptiness positions Beyoncé as a cold, clinical figure – a financially independent woman. Shots of Beyoncé in the rear of a Limousine are shown, with her peering out into the night street, with faceless men strolling by.
Emptiness highlights Beyoncé in a different sexual light to Partition, or Rocket. Here, the texture of sex is different – she’s no longer lustful or passionate, but in view of the infidelity against her, she’s calculated and self-serving – inticing men for her own means.
Emptiness defines how Lemonade abandons the decadence of traditional monogamous sex for other ways in which women navigate sex to be self-sufficient and transactional. “She sweats those sleepless nights / but she don’t mind / she loves the grind”.
Marriage does not mean a limitation of the ways in which women can feel positive about their sexiness or their bodies.
In Accountability, Beyoncé discusses the inability of men in her tradition to take responsibility and support the growth of black women. The absence of sympathy, appropriate fatherhood and self-reflection culminate in fractured relationships and marriages.
We see the reflection of two girls talking on a bed, “You look nothing like your mother. You look everything like your mother”.
The dissonance of these words and the mirror reflection as a metaphor bridging adolescent and adulthood uncovers the inversive disillusionment that black girls undergo in becoming oppressed partners while initially being optimistic about motherhood.
Reformation discusses the changes to the dynamic of a relationship that are required in order to improve it. “Look me in the eyes when I come...home”, Beyoncé does not want her partner to avert his gaze as a show of trust.
In addition, the mention of considering oneself “undeserving” also reflects on a troubled personal history which obstructs commitment to the sacred bond of a marriage: “you think it’s not possible for someone like you”.
Commitment is a great hurdle for many relationships but the permanence of a true love means that any doubts should dissolve “you are the love of my life / the love of my life”.
In this chapter Beyoncé also plays with public and private settings which reflect on being plainly seen (the stadium) and actually being perceived (the beach, a ritualistic setting) which highlight the difference between the spiritual and the physical.
Forgiveness is a chapter that undoes the wrongs. It’s main theme, healing, implies the undoing of a curse.
“1,000 girls raise their arms” Beyoncé recites, drawing on an extensive union for the deeply embedded generational curse of men failing to compromise and sympathise with the needs of their mothers and daughters.
The monologue is then humbling to the man and uses evocative uterine imagery to position the woman as monolithic “Are you thankful for the hips that cracked, the deep velvet of..her mother, and her mother?”
In Resurrection, Beyoncé discusses police brutality on African-Americans, and while ‘Forward’ plays, mothers hold photos of deceased sons.
Between the shots of the mothers holding frames of their children there are women holding photos of unrelated men. The audience is compelled to identify these men, and this contradictory sequence withdraws us from the emotional realm of the previous sequence of shots.
This enables Beyoncé to make a jarringly broader statement about the value of black lives; that women are the sole proprietors of motherhood and regardless of biological relation, the pain inflicted by police brutality is a communal pain that overrides familial bonds.
In Hope, Beyoncé tells the story of “the first girl” emerging through “a slit” in her stomach. “The man I love pulls the stitches out..”. The words echo Beyoncé’s quote in her 2013 autobiography Life Is But A Dream “my first child with the man I love” recounting a miscarriage.
Beyoncé then wakes: “the second girl crawls headfirst up my throat”. The audio of an imminent storm in the background and “a flower blossoming” symbolise a fertile victory through the turbulence, loss and pain of pregnancy – children – the ultimate gift of marriage.
Redemption is the final chapter of Lemonade. Three young girls run out to a field from a porch, a meaningful future for black womanhood. Beyoncé sits in a rocking chair, with only her toes touching the floor – indicating she still has shoes to fill in the roles of her elders.
Making reference to the 'Daughters of the Dust' – the women wear aristocratic Victorian costume, constructing a space of high subjectivity and safety, an alternate reality where the traditions of deep Southern culture are passed down seamlessly through generations.
The paradisal nature of this reality suggests that this space is still a pending ideal – safe spaces for black women are very scarce – but Redemption creates a holistic vision, an immersive experience where this safety and validation are constant.
That concludes this thread. Happy Lemonade day! 
