Beyoncé's Lemonade is the Female Empowerment Album We Need ... · PDF file4/16/2017...

4/16/2017 Beyoncé's Lemonade is the Female Empowerment Album We Need - Inspirer

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BEYONCÉ’S LEMONADE IS THE FEMALEEMPOWERMENT ALBUM WE NEED

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by : CARRIE COUROGEN | 12 MONTHS AGO | 18518 VIEWS

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The year is 2016, A.L. (“After Lemonade”). Years from now, our children may

ask us where we were the moment Beyoncé unveiled her second surprise

album in the form of a short �lm, possibly getting the most people to stay

home on a Saturday night since the early days of SNL, before DVR and

Hulu were things.

It’s easy to joke about Beyoncé, the cultural phenomenon. It’s easy to joke

about anyone with that much power and that much control over their

public image. It’s harder to talk about Beyoncé, the artist. It’s harder to talk

about the deeper issues she tackles, the way she uses her power to shed

light on topics that aren’t discussed in a meaningful manner in mainstream

media.

Lemonade asserts Beyoncé’s position as reigning queen of the music

industry, not that anyone really debated that. Musically, the album

demonstrates mastery of a variety of styles, proving that the artist — and

more importantly, black women in general — can handle any genre, be it

rock and roll or country or soul or pop. But the cultural implications of

Lemonade are what we really need to talk about.

Beyoncé has made a career out of being able to seamlessly blend well-

crafted pop with empowering themes, and over the years, they’ve evolved:

“Independent Women Part I” gave us “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),”

which became “Run the World (Girls),” and bled into “***Flawless.”

Lemonade — both in short �lm and album form — pulls no punches with

continuing this evolution and tackling even more di�cult, but important



cultural and political issues: Black Lives Matter, intersectional feminism,

female independence. More than anything else, these themes of female

empowerment on Lemonade are what Beyoncé addresses better than

anyone else right now.

We’re at peak pop culture feminism right now. Women musicians have

been singing empowering anthems for years, but it’s just now that people

are really starting to pay attention. It’s also just now that some artists

think making a song have a feminist slant is just as important as making

it have a catchy hook.

Beyoncé isn’t trying to please people’s expectations that she blatantly be a

feminist, though. She’s not trying to �t in; she’s not writing feminist songs to

be trendy, and that’s why she does it so well. Her words are genuine and

powerful. She’s not giggling about the media gossiping about her being a

serial dater. She’s not shaming women in a pseudo-empowering anthem

about curvy body types.

Instead, she combines her lyrics with words of Somali poet Warsan Shire

to make statements about the societal di�culties of being a woman,

misogyny, and the predicament of being in a relationship with a man who

may be uncomfortable with such a powerful partner. Between songs, she

delivers spoken word verses meditating on these topics:

But the way she so assertively addresses female empowerment stands up

on the songs themselves, the songs that will be played over the radio for

everyone — not just Tidal subscribers — to hear. She delivers “Hold Up,”

vilifying a cheating partner and handles a baseball bat in a way that’s more

I tried to change, closed my mouth more, tried to be soft, prettier, less awake.Fasted for sixty days, wore white, abstained from mirrors. Abstained fromsex, slowly did not speak another word.



gleeful than that time Carrie Underwood smashed in the windows of her

cheating boyfriend’s 4×4.

Because when Beyoncé does it, there’s deeper signi�cance: she’s

reclaiming the angry black woman trope by doing so. She acknowledges

the stereotype — “What’s worse, looking jealous or crazy?” — and moves

past it. She makes it clear that her feelings are valid, that any woman’s

feelings are valid, and to reduce an angry woman to a stereotype is

unacceptable.

“Don’t Hurt Yourself” takes the anger up a notch, but proves that she’s not

playing around. It drives home the point of being con�dent in your power,

knowing your worth, and never backing down to please someone else:

I am the dragon breathing �re Beautiful man I’m the lion Beautiful man I know you’re lying I am not broken, I’m not crying, I’m not crying You ain’t trying hard enough You ain’t loving hard enough You don’t love me deep enough We not reaching feats enough But I leave your love, I f*cks with you



She addresses income inequality by bragging about her wealth and status

just like any man would. Women are still �ghting for equal pay. Women

have been made to feel like we should make ourselves smaller, like we

shouldn’t show o� our accomplishments, like we shouldn’t speak too

loudly or draw too much attention to ourselves. Women are still being

made to believe that we’re not worth asking for more. Beyoncé makes it a

point on “6 Inch” to reject that notion. Your net worth may not be $450

million, but you “work for the money from start to �nish” and you’re “worth

every dollar and worth every minute.” Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not.

And this theme of working hard and �ghting for the best for yourself is

continued on “Formation,” which was the topic of about a million think

pieces when it was released in March. While the overlying signi�cance of

the song is its role as a black power anthem, it’s still making a strong

feminist point. Beyoncé reclaims sexuality and power, singing about men in

a way that most men sing about women:

She opens up the possibility of reaching the level of revolutionary �nancial

in�uence of Bill Gates to women, particularly women of color (who are the

most discriminated women in America): “You just might be a black Bill Gates

in the making — I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making.” Hear that,

America? The future is female.

It’s incredibly easy to joke about Beyoncé being Illuminati or being a queen

or question how she’s human. It’s easy to say that Lemonade is

‘Til I realize, I’m just too much for you I’m just too much for you

When he f*ck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay If he hit it right, I might take him on a �ight on my chopper, cause I slay Drop him o� at the mall, let him buy some J’s, let him shop up, cause I slay I might get your song played on the radio station, cause I slay



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empowering AF and call it a day. It’s harder to talk about the deep meaning

beneath the swagger. It’s harder to talk about how her lyrics have the

ability to open up public discussions that are long overdue. And it’s time we

start.

Listen to Lemonade exclusively on Tidal

Track List:

1. Pray You Catch Me

2. Hold Up

3. Don’t Hurt Yourself

4. Sorry

5. 6 Inch

6. Daddy Lessons

7. Love Drought

8. Sandcastles

9. Forward

10. Freedom

11. All Night

12. Formation

101

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Carrie Courogen

Carrie is a writer and social media manager for Condé Nast Entertainment in

New York. Her writing has been featured in print and online for publications like

Quartz, Teen Vogue, The Hu�ngton Post, Bustle, and the New York Daily News,

among others. Additionally, she maintains a Tumblr where she muses on things

like millennial issues, music, and, most of all, lady heroes.

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LEMONADE . MUSIC . MUSICIAN . POWERFUL . STRONG WOMEN . WOMEN IN MUSIC

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