Lemonade (2016 TV Special) User Reviews

Lemonade Video by Beyonce

[jrneptune · 8/10 · 27 April 2016]

Words appearing during video:

1. Intuition - that sense that something isn't right about a situation

2. Denial - creating excuses in your mind instead of confronting the issue

3. Anger - reaction when the truth is found out

4. Apathy - reaction afterward trying to fool yourself

5. Emptiness - feeling afterward when you realize your not in control even over yourself

6. Accountability - when you wake up and realize more needs to be done not just for yourself but for your family and others

7. Reformation - rebuilding the relationship

8. Forgiveness - Forgiving others and yourself

9. Hope - Hope for the future

10. Redemption - Phase in which you can trust again

Film Adaptation and Poetry credited to Warsan Shire 12 Videos for each song from the album. I don't see how they are actually interconnected other than being related to a phase of life a woman can encounter or remembers.

Stunning visual displays and songs featuring other artists such as The Weeknd, James Blake and Kendrick Lamar.

Images during videos celebrates everything from her parents, pregnancy, childhood, family videos, a funeral, and moments with her dad, Ivy with her Dad, and celebrities including the mothers of sons recently killed that ignited the Black Lives Matter movement.

I also have to wonder about the timing of it coming out almost two weeks before Mothers Day. Have to wonder if it isn't a Mother's Day gift to women.

I give it 8 out of 10 only because I felt if is going to be an hour long they could have possibly interconnected the stories between the videos better and possibly create a clearer message but then again it is art and having people think and discuss the artist's intent is also a artist's goal.

A personal journey made relatable

[peefyn · 8/10 · 31 July 2016]

I was expecting a series of loosely tied together music videos, but the connection, and the narrative, was much stronger than expected. This is obviously based on Beyoncé's own life, the troubles she has had in her own family, and the importance of family to her (in both a literal and figurative sense). It's shown using a combination of private footage and more music video-like sequences, and it ends up working really well.

What's most impressive, is how Beyoncé and the movie makers managed to make her very personal story feel relatable for people in completely different situations. This is done both by showing all sorts of lives throughout the film, but also by making Beyoncé herself feel more human and relatable.

The process and personal journey described, going from feeling hurt, to angry, indifferent, etc., and then forgiveness and redemption, kind of makes the other players in her personal journey seem like passive players, and so the conveying of "forgivenes" was a bit harder to swallow. But then again, this is only meant to reflect her side of all of this, and you are just going to trust her judgment.

A Complex and Thorough Return to Form for Beyonce Signalling a Positively New Turn in her Career.

[TheMrAdriaX · 10/10 · 14 May 2016]

After her raunchy and overtly explicit self-titled visual album released in 2013, Beyonce returns with a more toned down, yet her most empowering work of art to date. The Lemonade visual features complex themes of infidelity that is prevalent throughout the film as viewers are taken through a scorn woman's journey from Intuition to Anger all of which are different stages of emotion a woman goes through when they are cheated on.

The cinematography varies throughout the film but remains to be consistent to the overall experience of the film. Asides from the film, Beyonce's music is both personal and raw as she experiments with different genres of music such as R&B, rock, reggae and even country. Despite the wildly different genres of music Beyonce plays with, much like the cinematography, it all mends together well to produce the over arching story that she intends the viewers to experience.

Beyonce's Lemonade is her best work to date.

A piece of art

[trimblecali · 10/10 · 27 April 2017]

This is truly a masterpiece. The music, the visuals, the spoken word. Everything is on par. There are so many feelings felt throughout Lemonade. I've never seen anything quite like it. Beyonce has changed the entire music game forever. I highly recommend that EVERYONE watches this, it is a life changing experience.

Best album in the world

[mhiyosi · 10/10 · 1 August 2020]

A truly masterpiece and this is the truly of art. Beyoncé challenges her everything to speak the truth.

ICONIC

[ivandominguez97 · 10/10 · 18 January 2022]

I've watched this film 100 times already and it amazes me every time! I like how raw this body of work is. Ive never seen anything like it. Black is King was amazing too.

One word to describe it: EXCELLENT

[yigitnarter · 10/10 · 14 June 2016]

I didn't use to listen to Beyoncé very often until I heard about this masterpiece and decided to give it a listen. And I was THRILLED! Not only the album but its visuals also succeeded at entertaining me. Unlike her last album which had individual visuals for each track, Lemonade's visuals are connected with mysterious and meaningful poetry that has given me chills. This lengthy but entertaining music video/visual album shows us Beyoncé's doubts about Jay-Z. It opens with "Intuition" where Beyoncé starts to question their relationship and followed by "Denial" where Beyoncé tries to be "less awake". In "Anger", Beyoncé tells Jay-Z "if he tries this s*** again, he go lose his wife" while in "Reformation", Beyoncé tries to repair their relationship. Eventually, it finishes with "Redemption" where Beyoncé understands that Jay is her true love and she cannot leave him. Its trailer makes it look dark and creepy, but trust me, IT IS NOT. And you are hearing this from a person who isn't a Beyoncé fan(Well, not anymore :)) And now, Lemonade is one of my favourite albums, while Beyoncé is one of my favourite artists.

Beyonce: Lemonade

[gjdogfather · 12 October 2017]

Back in April of 2016, Beyoncé changed the music game yet again with her highly anticipated sixth studio album, "Lemonade". The album was accompanied with a film of the same name that premiered on HBO. In this film, Beyoncé renders infidelity and reconciliation with a cinematic vividness as well as a tribute to the Black Lives Matter Movement. The "Lemonade" film has 11 different chapters. The chapters are broken down and each of them have a particular theme and song that tie into each other, thus, using the spatial mode in the film. The "Lemonade" film uses vivid imagery to create visual mode. The film contains visuals of the multifaceted nature of Black women and how different experiences can be captured into one woman. She uses this film to tell the viewers her story as a mother, wife, daughter, black women, and celebrity. Beyoncé starts off the film with "Intuition." In this chapter, she speaks from the perspective of a woman questioning not only the trustworthiness of her partner, but men in general. She then moves on to the next chapter, "Denial", where Beyoncé speaks about the sacrifices she's made and the lies she told herself in a relationship. She follows up with "Anger", which is the next chapter of the "Lemonade" film. She not only talks about a relationship, but also addresses an even bigger statement by adding audio from a Malcolm X speech: "The most disrespected person in America is the Black Woman." This is where aural mode is present due to the different voice-overs she uses, from not just Malcolm X but the actors in the film as well, such as her daughter Blue Ivy and famous tennis player and friend Serena Williams. Beyoncé then goes on to the next chapter, "Apathy." Although you can feel the emotion in her voice throughout the film, the linguistic mode really stands out here. With this chapter, she calls out an unfaithful partner and tells him how the "sidechicks" could never be her. She says, "So what are you gonna say at my funeral, now that you've killed me? Here lies the body of the love of my life, whose heart I broke without a gun to my head …" She goes to the next chapter, "Emptiness", where Beyoncé references a woman who works very hard for her money but at the end of the day still wants her man to acknowledge her presence. Here, her role as a celebrity clashes with her role as a wife, and highlights the difficulties of working while trying to maintain a marriage. "Accountability" is the next chapter and here, Beyoncé talks about how black women are treated by men in general. From deadbeat fathers to deadbeat husbands, it's a cycle that Beyoncé ties back into how women can be accepting of this type of behavior. Beyoncé is referencing her relationship with her father and reliving her mother's trauma by being in her mother's position as a victim of infidelity. The theme of the album starts to shift with the next chapter, "Reformation." Here, Beyoncé creates a theme of baptism and renewal. She's leading a group of black women through the river and encouraging them to not only empower themselves but each other. This chapter highlights black women celebrating one another despite the struggles they face. So now that Beyoncé has given all these emotions throughout this film, she then goes on to the next chapter, "Forgiveness." Beyoncé sings about trying to move past the hurt and anger that a loved one has caused her and how she has reached a place where she can forgive. The next chapter, "Resurrection", is where her reference to the Black Lives Matter Movement is definitely the strongest. Beyoncé brings together the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and Eric Garner, who have lost their sons due to police brutality. Here she shines a light in remembrance to these young men. The next chapter, "Hope", is where there is an exit of sadness. This chapter highlights Beyoncé's role as a wife and makes the decision to forgive her partner after all the hurt he has caused her. Beyoncé then moves on to the last chapter of the film, "Redemption." She talks about her journey to forgiveness and although the road wasn't easy, she says, "Nothing real can be threatened." Here, she also uses the aural mode because the scene goes silent before she starts to pick the sound back up with her poetry and then music. With this chapter, it ties back into everything Beyoncé uses in the film to tell her story as a mother, wife, daughter, black woman and celebrity. I felt that the film was great because, with this album Beyoncé proved to the world that she is so much more than just a pop-star. "Lemonade" was so monumental with its various music genres: pop, rock, country, reggae, R&B, and blues. As well as the impressive visuals that are displayed which corresponds to each of the different chapters and its songs. "Lemonade" contains some of Beyoncé's strongest work to date and she constantly outdoes herself.

The "Lemonade" film appeals to the Beyhive community because we love everything that deals with Beyoncé. From her new music, to music videos, to Instagram posts and also workout clothes, the Beyhive loves everything Beyoncé. This film also relates to people in general that have dealt with infidelity in their relationships. This record was completely different from her previous albums and it showed because with each one of her records, she shows growth in her music. She usually keeps her life private and every true member of the Beyhive knows this and with an album like "Lemonade" she not only addresses infidelity rumors, but false pregnancy rumors as well. This film really gave insight into a look in Beyoncé's personal life and the Beyhive simply loved it.

Boring but not awful

[khanhassaan2010 · 10/10 · 25 November 2016]

It was one cold and fine morning in February and I thought, "Why not watch a movie?". I checked my local theater. There wasn't much movies on then, so I picked this film as it classified itself as 4 different genres art-house,thriller,music and political. I thought in my head I like all those genres so I went to watch it. The first thing is it is so dark and dull. The second thing is it is so head-achy. The third thing is what is Beyoncè doing. The only positive things are the screenplay,cinematography, Beyoncè's acting and plot-line and script. Beyoncè is a fantastic woman and I believe she deserves all of that cash she has because she is goddamned talented. In this movie, she was great. Her voice captures the tense moments in the music and whoever made the music deserves 4/5 from me but the director of this film deserves 2/5 from me. I don't understand the point of this film, with several Illuminati subliminal Easter eggs, whats the point?, why did you make this film?. This movie is not my taste and it doesn't really have much of a taste anyway.

Beautiful to watch...

[rebeccalucy · 6/10 · 3 December 2017]

I enjoyed this due to the amazing visuals, honestly it is fantastic to see the lighting and cinematography. Any fan of either will enjoy this extremely well put together visual album.

Beyoncé and her team has put a lot of effort into songs, most of which are quite good. My favourite songs were Sorry, All night and 6 Inch. They all used beautiful costumes and lighting in the performance, which just perfectly works together. Some songs are only decent in my opinion, they could have used tweaking to make them a little better.

The narration of poetry is sometimes a bit confusing, as I did not understand most of its relation to the story. Not really a problem with the visual album bu it also kinda annoyed me that her songs aren't available on spotify! I really enjoyed one of the songs and wanted to put it in my playlist. But the visual album is great and deserves the praise it got.

Visual album

[mmuggi · 6/10 · 5 January 2022]

I think it takes being a big Beyoncé fan to really enjoy this visual album. Preserved, the camera work has gone really well and there are delicious shots in the film, but lost too fast interferon.