Music

How Lemonade cements Beyoncé’s status as a world-class live artist

This weekend Beyoncé unleashed her new visual album, Lemonade, and it’s safe to say it’s only reinforced what a world-class performer she is.

Despite a bit of hoo-hah about the record not yet being available on most streaming services, we’re well and truly blown away by Bey’s creative approach to this release.

The lowdown? Well, Lemonade was released exclusively to Tidal (the platform owned by her hubby Jay Z) during Beyoncé’s HBO world premiere event on Saturday (23 April), where she unveiled the 12-track record for the first time as a full visual experience.

As well as plenty of juicy lyrical content, the release includes collaborations with Jack White, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar and James Blake.

The full tracklist:

  1. ‘Pray You Catch Me’
  2. ‘Hold Up’
  3. ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ ft. Jack White
  4. ‘Sorry’
  5. ‘6 Inch’ ft. The Weeknd
  6. ‘Daddy Lessons’
  7. ‘Love Drought’
  8. ‘Sandcastles’
  9. ‘Forward’ ft. James Blake
  10. ‘Freedom’ ft. Kendrick Lamar
  11. ‘All Night’
  12. ‘Formation’

Ahead of the hour-long premiere, Bey teased the release with a few intense videos, building anticipation with fierce footage, yet no real fine details.

LEMONADE Preview | HBO

Lemonade is Bey’s second visual album after she surprised us all with the unannounced release of her self-titled collection back in 2013.

The moral of the story? Everything Beyoncé does is planned to the finest detail – even if she doesn’t reveal very much of it at first. Here, this ambitious album even sees her sample Led Zeppelin’s When The Levee Breaks.

As for cementing her status as one of the most dynamic live performers touring today, the storytelling aspect of Lemonade is what’s got us all excited.

Beyond synchronised dance moves, this is a live showcase of strength, empowerment and determination. From the vulnerability of Intuition and Denial, to the aggression of Hold Up, and forgiveness of Sandcastles and All Night, Bey has to be planning something preeetty big in order to translate all this onto a live stage.

Case in point:

Catch BEYONCÉ on THE FORMATION WORLD TOUR:

June
28 – Sunderland, Stadium of Light
30 – Cardiff, Principality Stadium

July
2 & 3 – London, Wembley Stadium
5 – Manchester, Emirates Old Trafford
7 – Glasgow, Hampden Park

Check availability and book Beyoncé tickets now at Ticketmaster.co.uk/Beyonce, including gold circle, VIP packages and platinum options.