Contexts of The Lemonade Album by Beyonce

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Feminism Theory & Beyonce’s Lemonade Album (Formation Track)
Postcolonial Theory & Beyonce’s Lemonade Album (Sorry Track)
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Beyonce’s profession has been characterized by an image that speaks to concepts of ‘female power’ and sovereignty associated with the advent of postfeminist contemporary music in the 1990s. Postfeminism in modern culture has been defined by ideals of autonomy, individuality, and the re-commodification of femininity. It is sometimes referred to as a non-political feminist philosophy. Her expanding dominance of the mainstream entertainment sector, on the other hand, has positioned her in a privileged situation in significant cultural realms, allowing her to interact with more politically charged subjects in her songs. Her expanding dominance of the mainstream music sector, on the other hand, has positioned her in a unique role in popular cultural realms, allowing her to interact with more highly political subjects in her songs. Beyonce signalled a conscious and evident transition in her articulation of femininity and identity with explicit allusions to political equality in her Lemonade album.

Feminism Theory & Beyonce’s Lemonade Album (Formation Track)

Lemonade is a natural progression of the modern mainstream soundtrack’s exploration of black feminism. Incorporating familiar sociopolitical images and a stronger concentration on the socio-cultural devastation connected with white dominance also represents a transition into a more aggressive posture. Lemonade, Beyonce’s 2016 audio-visual album, takes the viewer through several traumatic events of her lifetime, apparently in response to her spouse, Jay-Z’s acts of infidelity (Brooks and Martin, 2019). Although it is predominantly connected with the emancipation of black women, it also elevates the appreciation of black heritage and the amazement of femininity to unprecedented heights. Several works on the album expand on the black feminist concepts by including previous allusions and reflecting on current manifestations of unfairness and oppression. Despite detractors’ claims that Lemonade presents black women as victims, Lemonade encourages black women to publicly voice their rage since there is no worse injustice than wallowing in self-pity (Austin, Maner, Rutter and Scott, 2019).

Due to the general manner by which it consolidates the emotions of Black women, interaction with Black men, parental connection, and interactions with fellow Black women, Beyonce’s hit album Lemonade has been dubbed a Black feminist masterpiece. Parenthood, the “loving and tribulation heritage,” and Afrocentrism are prevalent aspects throughout the soundtrack. On the other hand, Lemonade can be said to be an anti-Black feminist composition due to its hints of Afrocentrism, which maintains multiple misogynistic views about Black women (Laing et al., n.d.). However, with the Formation hit acting as the crucial argument song in this thesis, the Lemonade album may be a move from empowering black third-wave feminism principles to aggressive engagement.

The Formation, a new song by Beyonce, was released alongside a politically heated musical film. This tune caused a global commotion in the musical sector. This track was considered a scandal by masses of individuals all over the globe. The musical visuals and lyrics sparked widespread controversy and a global confrontation. This encompasses aesthetic ideals, sovereignty, heritage, and shared historical events. Beyonce is attempting to drive over to everyone because there are serious concerns that are routinely disregarded (Webster, n.d.). She also states that she will if no one else is willing to speak up on these topics.

Prejudice against African American culture, excessive use of force, catastrophe, and ethnic heritage were all presented in the lines. The very initial segment of the film features scenes of Antebellum America, complete with distinctive clothes, decor, and construction that, considering the music’s setting, are highly reflective of the past of slave labourers on Southern farmland than the wealth and prosperity represented in the clip. The presentation of traditional Creole dishes and a brief twerking performance near the opening are other tributes to Creole customs. Owing to its origins in the choreography continuity, which is significant to the African population, and its relationship to the mainstream performing milieu, the latter has remained a fundamental symbol of black identity. Stated, Beyonce made extensive use of all analogies to black womanhood to convey the narrative and increase its resonance.

While Formation is not a comprehensive representation of feminism, it certainly highlights the myriad aspects feminism manifests in feminists’ regular lifestyles. Beyonce has hailed black women’s victories at a season when white feminism and the conventional press frequently reject them. Beyonce embraces her black womanhood and all that entails, and she advises everybody else to practice the same. Relationships, parenting, procreative injustice, and queer and trans ideologies are discussed in the soundtrack and its associated video soundtrack (Cooper and Gold, 2017). Beyonce’s discourses and analogies struck ashore for the young black women and trans who travelled to Leigh, attempting to shake off millennial damage inflicted by colonialism, hegemony, and internalized oppression. This was a beginning point for them to decide to unravel their traumatic event and convey unique black feminist discourse. People say that black feminism should emulate Beyonce’s footsteps and recognize sexual identity as an asset rather than denying it, allowing black women to reimagine genders, delights, and connections in surprising ways (Anderson, 2018). Beyonce emphasizes the need of remaining grateful as a black feminist and that the best vengeance is to work by stressing the importance of activism and not giving in to racial, gender, or sexual identity.

Another critical characteristic of the soundtrack that can be seen in the song under discussion is the high political background, which is uncommon in Beyonce’s performances. This is particularly evident in the video’s concluding portion, in which the wholly armed riot cops are spotted in posture. This appears to be connected to Michael Brown’s tragic execution by a law enforcement officer and the ensuing community outrage, which encompassed the hands up movement (Iddon and Marshall, 2021). In the music video, Beyonce is surrounded by dressed black men, alluding to enslavement and African Americans’ quest for emancipation. After that, Beyonce is resting on top of a cop vehicle, surrounded by surging flooding waters and crumbling residences.

The sinking of the cop vehicle with Beyonce on top represents the position of black women as the foundation and vanguard of political revolutions throughout history. Abilities and perseverance are on comprehensive exhibit when similar acts are committed. The camera picture displays a graffiti label demanding that the cops cease executing us as the youngster lifts his hands in the air whilst posing in front of the cops. The photo displays a graffiti message demanding that the cops cease firing them (Hartmann, 2017). This graphic is linked to the Black Lives Matter Movement by highlighting anti-violence and anti-racism efforts directed at black people.

The songwriter’s theme of obtaining information is reinforced by such pictures, which stresses the subjugation of the black community. Another obvious political allusion is the publication with the photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and the tagline “the truth” shown in one of several episodes. This concept was pushed to a different extreme during Beyonce’s Formation World Tour when she was photographed donning apparel with a black panther pattern. This was undoubtedly connected to the Black Panther Party, a revolutionary movement that campaigned for black people’s freedom but was chastised for its imperialist views. Beyonce’s Super Bowl 50 presentation, in which she and her dance troupe wore a black beanie and leather clothing evocative of the Black Panthers’ favourite look and stood for the cameras with uplifted hands, backs up this argument.

Formation emphasized Beyonce’s status as a contemporary influence, entertainer, and superstar. Despite many emerging musical celebrities, she devotes closely to her century’s trends and is always conscious of what is happening in the virtual environment. She is impacted by current occurrences and strives to influence a difference via her words and abilities (Washington, n.d.). Beyonce’s film emphasizes her cultural feminist movement, sovereignty, and identity through political examples, highlighting her personal and corporate achievements.

Postcolonial Theory & Beyonce’s Lemonade Album (Sorry Track)

Postcolonial theory is a school of philosophy that focuses on the political, cultural, intellectual, historical, and societal consequences of European colonialism throughout the globe from the 18th to the 20th centuries. According to postcolonial theory, decolonized individuals establish a postcolonial authenticity centred on the contextual interplay among various narratives such as contextual, regional, and cultural roots, as well as sexual identity and class-based affiliations, all of which are given differing grades of socioeconomic authority by Victorian administration (Haddour, n.d.).

Considering how lengthy the entertainment sector has served as a proxy for culture’s chauvinistic principles, both the musical documentary’s choreography and the vocals of “Sorry” operate in support of the essential recovery that women must do in totality. There is a complexity to the perception of slavery for black women. “Sorry” answers this uncomfortable situation by claiming attributes that aren’t usually linked to black feminism. Consequently, the black woman in postcolonial America is faced with the obligation to restore and restructure herself to areas that had historically been prohibited, as Beyoncé does in “Sorry” (Edwards, Esposito and Evans-Winters, 2018). On the other hand, Beyonce should partake in the very same behaviours of oppression to which she has been subjugated to indulge in this crucial regaining.

It’s crucial to comprehend the media on which Beyoncé released “Sorry,” and how this platform functions to practically depict Beyoncé’s transition from separation from fellow women to oneness with them. Because “Sorry” was published as part of a more comprehensive visual piece, the visible features of the live performance are crucial to the track’s general thrust (Vox – Understand the News, 2022). This composition combines collective performers and outfit alterations to represent Beyonce as cohesive and unified with the women surrounding her, rather than isolated and separated. The movie “Sorry” is exclusively shot in monochrome. This emphasizes pure white but minimizes the relevance of shades, such as her yellow costume in the song “Hold Up”, which was meant to represent her connection with the sunshine. The use of monologue filming emphasizes the Spillers’ racial discrepancy even more. The practical method of filmmaking in black and white, for instance, ensures that there is no debate about the apparent variations in hue, both culturally and aesthetically.

As the song progresses, the need to reclaim agency becomes more apparent. Suicide before you see this teardrop stream down my eyes, Beyonce sings, the message achingly evident that she would prefer to die by my own hands than let you know the misery you’ve inflicted me. Though it appears to be a rhetorical device with a hefty dose of melodrama, the topic of freedom is once again evident. This thematic authority is found in past occurrences and Beyonce’s break-up hymn. The notion of a woman preferring to perish instead of bowing to a man’s power is as old as the African Slave Market. Women have tried everything in their ability to restore their independence when it has been taken away from them, even if it meant death (Jeffery, 2021). Beyonce’s wordplay yet anew alluded to a double character of black feminism. Not only does she need to reclaim her authority following the distress of a broken engagement, but also remembers the foundations of previous black women activist before her. those who were prepared to perish on their contexts instead of appending to their men counterparts.

Beyonce is partaking in the current societal tendency to set women against one another. She selects to finish with a restatement of the sentence “you better call Becky with the good hair” out of all the concluding statements in the composition. Thereby, Beyonce’s songwriting approach has shifted the song’s focus aside from the trustworthy source of her rage, the betraying spouse, and toward the perpetrator of the trauma, “Becky,” the woman with whom Beyonce was betrayed. Since the culminating anger or fury at the song’s end is intended especially at her, “Becky” has assumed Beyonce’s subject in the “Sorry” story. Referencing both the unfaithful spouse and the lady with whom the infidelity took place in fury communicates some level of responsibility for the transgression. At the same time, Becky pledged no such pledges or promises to Beyonce and thus cannot be held responsible (Awaliyah, Mustofa and Sam’ah, 2021). Instead, shifting the blame from the guy to the woman shifts the focus away from the cheater.

The song “Sorry” concerns men’s lack of sovereignty and authority. It sparks debates on gender identification and formalized political correctness, varying from traditional female conduct to black hair ideology. It is a composition that is developed on the foundation of the past. It is not afraid to use pictures that may appear too gloomy for popular discourse, including the iconography from the Atlantic Slave Market discussed earlier (Beyoncé’s Lemonade: “A winner don’t quit”, 2017). Since the black woman’s narrative is inextricably linked to these discourses and heritage, it is crucial to interact with it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Beyonce shows the still very present social and political institutions that impact the livelihoods of persons of colour, women, and underdogs around the globe – by investigating manufactured racialized identification as a result of dominant hierarchies of white supremacy. She develops a broad discussion by analyzing and critiquing concepts of sex and ethnicity, capturing the essence of the contemporary cultural and political period in the United States. While not lacking flaws, she has effectively involved listeners in these discussions while also introducing women of colour to the primarily white world of American contemporary society and performance. As a result, Lemonade emerges as a crucial cultural narrative that responds to current political and socio-economic challenges confronting African American societies and women of colour in the 21st century. Beyonce maintains a distinctive stance in the entertainment industry besides persisting in navigating racial, sexual, and gender matters through her music and charismatic personality. She will involve the public in discussions about heritage, disparities, and recognition and thus becomes an iconic leader for contextual detractors and feminist intellectuals to consider.

Reference List

2017. Beyoncé’s Lemonade: “A winner don’t quit”.

Anderson, D. 2018. Problematic. How toxic callout culture is destroying feminism. Dulles: Potomac Books, Inc.

Austin, T., Maner, S., Rutter, E. and scott, d. 2019. Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era. Milton: Routledge.

Awaliyah, M., Mustofa, M. and Sam’ah, I. 2021. “Black Parade” Song: How Beyonce Criticized Racism. INTERACTION: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa, 8(1), pp.103-111.

Brooks, K. and Martin, K. 2019. The Lemonade reader. Beyoncé, black feminism and spirituality. Andover: Routledge Ltd.

Cooper, J. and Gold, S. 2017. Post-Trump intersections & “post-racial” reflections.

Edwards, E., Esposito, J. and Evans-Winters, V. 2018. Does Beyoncé’s Lemonade Teach Us How to Turn Lemons into Lemonade? Exploring the Limits and Possibilities Through Black Feminism. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 16(2).

Baddour, A., n.d. Frantz Fanon, postcolonialism and the ethics of difference.

Hartmann, J. 2017. Sound, Vision, and Embodied Performativity in Beyoncé Knowles’ Visual Album Lemonade (2016). European Journal of American studies, 12(4).

Iddon, M. and Marshall, M. 2021. Beyoncé. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Jeffery, A., 2021. Popular Music And Narrativity. [S.L.]: Bloomsbury.

Laing, M., Willson, J., Walsh, M., Throp, M., Fatehrad, A., Parkins, I., Peters, L., Baker, C., Woolley, D., Chong Kwan, S., Brewster, M. and Nogués, R., n.d. Revisiting the gaze.

Vox. 2022. Vox – Understand the News.

Washington, C., n.d. The future is feminist.

Webster, S., n.d. When Life Gives You Lemons, “Get In Formation”.

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