How Lemonade Changed my Life
When life gives you lemons, you turn into Beyoncé. Lemonade is a recent album Beyoncé released not too long ago. The music and the visual aspects were just phenomenal. Lemonade is more than just incredible music, but there’s a deeper meaning to it all and Beyoncé created Lemonade to connect to the listener through a collective of sounds and lyrics that really makes you feel time and awareness. Lemonade is very profound and one of the most riveting albums I’ve ever listened/seen in my life. Lemonade has such an immense power to change lives, and for me Lemonade helped open my eyes more and expand my horizons about the real world.
Lemonade allowed black women to form a unification through listening and being able to relate emotions like pain, anger, sorrow, emptiness, oppression and forgiveness that Lemonade managed to rouse. It is clear to me that Beyoncé’s goal to be able to reach her audience on such a profound level. The way Beyoncé was able to touch on subjects like the anger of finding out your significant other is unfaithful to you, but also the sorrow and self-blame that comes with it.
The songs that really coloured these emotions were, ‘Don’t hurt yourself,’ which was the initial anger that a woman will experience in finding out about her husband’s infidelity. Then there was ‘Sandcastles,’ which portrayed the hurt that a woman will go through and how even someone as strong and flawless as Beyoncé, can be broken. But, ‘All night’ was a song that showed forgiveness and healing that she experienced in such a roller coaster of emotions. Beyoncé taught me that no matter what forgiveness and love is more powerful than hate and dwelling on the past. She taught me that through forgiveness you will find peace within yourself and the other person.
Lemonade was also able to tackle police brutality among racially profiled black men and women. The song ‘Forward’ was used as a tribute to the families of black men and women whose lives had been taken at the hands of racist and unjustified police officers. ‘Forward’ is incredibly sad, and just allows the listener to sympathize and understand the weight of the message of the tribute. This tribute was very heartbreaking but it is very necessary. ‘Freedom’ is another powerful ballad that suggests that although black people are considered ‘free,’ we are not truly liberated from the invisible shackles of oppression and racism. The song focuses on black people being able to find a voice and demand what we deserve for so long. Adding Kendrick Lamar to the song, with his moving lyrics also contributed greatly to the importance of Lemonade.
Through the unification of black women, Beyoncé included some very incredibly powerful black female activists, such as Zendaya Coleman, Amandla Stenberg, Serena Williams, etc. By using these women, who are greatly looked up to and are making a difference helps to reach an even larger audience. Which includes young girls and teens who are still very impressionable, so having something like Lemonade is very important. Lemonade focuses on the innate bond of black sisterhood and how black women can use one another to heal and become more appreciated. But it’s even more than that. Lemonade is reaching out to women of all races and sexual orientations and creating a feminist movement, because together I truly believe that misogyny WILL be conquered.
Lemonade is a very, very powerful album that is definitely more than music, its real life and it really did change my life.
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