Why Lemonade by Beyoncé is one of the most impactful albums of all time

A THREAD

#5YearsofLEMONADE

Lemonade isn't just seen as an album but as a cultural artefact worthy of academic analysis. It has spawned HUNDREDS of academic papers and has been studied in over a dozen universities worldwide, touching on topics such as black feminism & cultural identity #5YearsofLEMONADE

Two books have also been published that focus on Lemonade: The Lemonade Reader and Beyoncé In Formation: Remixing Black Feminism. These books allow you to delve deep into the themes in Lemonade.

Costumes and images of Beyoncé from the Lemonade era are found in museums around the world

Lemonade is credited with reviving the album as an art form in an era dominated by singles & streaming.

Australian radio host Myf Warhurst said that Beyoncé changed "the album" "to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept"

Lemonade is also credited with reviving music videos as an art form, w/ Rolling Stone saying Bey is “singlehandedly keeping the art of the music video alive"

The Washington Post credits it with the trend of using MVs to explore race, emulated by artists such as Childish Gambino

The Lemonade film also kicked off a trend, with several artists releasing visual albums and music films to try emulate Lemonade, such as Drake & Frank Ocean.

The various use of genres on Lemonade has been credited with helping the industry move beyond genre boundaries

Lemonade is credited with helping black people reclaim country (setting the prevent for the popularization of cowboy aesthetics and the Yeehaw Agenda), rock (which has helped save the genre according to Rolling Stone), and it has helped African mysticism return to popular music.

Several other artists said they were inspired by Lemonade when creating their albums, such as Cardi B, Little Mix and Snoop Dogg.

Critics have written about how other artists were inspired by Lemonade for their albums, incl. Taylor Swift, Fiona Apple, Shania Twain & Alicia Keys.

The innovative artistic qualities of Lemonade has inspired works outside of music, including television (e.g. Lovecraft Country), film (e.g. Beauty and the beast), and theatre (e.g. Hole at the Royal Court).

Additionally, Lemonade-era Beyoncé inspired the character of Catherine of Aragon in the West End and Broadway musical Six, and the character of Cleopatra in the London National Theatre's 2018 production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

Daughters of the Dust, a film that Beyoncé paid homage to in Lemonade, was brought back to theatres after the album was released

MTV brought back the Breakthrough Long Form Video category at the VMAs after 25 years because of Lemonade

Of course, the Beyoncé Effect continued. People involved in the album such as Warsan Shire saw a 800% increase in sales after its release. Brands such as Red Lobster and El Camino, and even small details like the lemon and bee emojis, saw an increase in popularity after Lemonade.

The impact also extended into fashion, with trends such as yellow dresses, lemon print, black berets and piped clothing all sourced to Lemonade.

And of course, the popular hairstyle "lemonade braids" was named after the album, and was subsequently added to the Fashion Dictionary

The word "Bama" was also added to the Oxford English Dictionary, just like Bootylicious, in 2016.

A drug discovery tool that was invented to combat antibiotic resistance was named SLAY (Surface Localized Antimicrobial Display) after Formation.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt made a whole episode homage to Lemonade. In addition to Lemonade's own 4 Emmy noms, this episode received 2 Emmy noms, including Best Music & Lyrics for the Hold Up parody "Hell No"

Hold Up was also paid homage to in several other shows, such as The Simpsons, Bojack Horseman, Making a Scene with James Franco, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, The Late Late Show with James Corden and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Parodies and homages of other Lemonade videos have also appeared in other shows. This includes TWO SNL sketches.

And of course the iconic Formation look, worn by legends such as Serena Williams, Michelle Obama and Blue Ivy. It even inspired a Marvel comic cover, with the illustrator saying that Beyoncé is the perfect symbol of "representation, feminism and fighting for what’s right".

Lastly, Lemonade has had an immense impact on politics and Black female identity, which deserves it's own separate thread in order to do it justice.

To conclude, stan Lemonade and make sure you buy the album on iTunes! #5YearsofLEMONADE http://apple.co/2IOel0t