Okay ladies now let's get in formation cause it's time for my LEMONADE review. I feel I've had enough time to let the album fully set in before going in to review it. 

That being said this review will be a review of the album alone. Purely the music. I am not reviewing the film accompaniment and will not be factoring it into my thoughts on the music. However, I will mention the film briefly at the start of this review as I my initial thoughts on the album were totally different than they are now and the film had much to do with that. 

Let's begin.


Going into LEMONADE I began with the film. I enjoyed the film and think it was well done. However, I found it really ruined my first impressions of the album. I did not like how the songs were chopped up in the film. My impression after watching the film was that, bar two songs, the album was quite boring. 

Having listened to LEMONADE fully through many times now I can say that that is no longer my thoughts on the album. 

I love Self-Titled but I do think it has some filler on it. LEMONADE however, I find has only a single filler track. And it's not really that it's not a good track. It's just completely unnecessary imo. And now I'm gonna start the track by track portion of this review. 

Pray You Catch Me is the album's opening number. I found this to be such a bore from the film but I really love it a lot now. I like the kinda mysterious "bum bum" opening. While the amount of lyrics in this track is on the lower side Bey's vocals are great and it's a really nice mellow opening track. I think this one in particular took me some more time to appreciate. It's not as instant as a lot of the other album tracks. It doesn't end up in my LEMONADE Top 5 but it's still a great track. A nice way to ease the listener into the punches that are to come.

Hold Up is a song I enjoyed in the film. I've seen the horns on this track have bothered some people. They don't really bother me here. I do think they were done better on another track on LEMONADE but they don't ruin Hold Up or anything for me. I really like the caribbean vibes in this song. The chorus is always stuck in my head. I do think the song is a little anti-climatic but it's still good nonetheless. 

Next up is Don't Hurt Yourself. The caribbean sound continues here but is masked by this track's rock sound. I don't like this song as much as the rest of the Hive does from what I've seen. I like it it a lot better around 1:35 when the instrumental really kicks in. I just find the song as a whole is a tad too noisy for my taste. It doesn't completely ruin the song but it makes it a little grating on the ears at times. Which I guess fits with the lyrics and message but it's a tad bothersome for me. 

Sorry is such a bop. All the "Sorry, I ain't sorry" lines have been stuck in my head since my first listen. The "Middle fingers up, Put them hands high, Wave it in his face, Tell him, boy, bye, Tell him, boy, bye, Middle fingers up, I ain't thinking 'bout you" lines fucking slay me. One of my favorite moments on the entire album. So fucking catchy. And then of course we have the already iconic becky ending. I kinda wish the song has another reprise of the "middle fingers up" lines with the "i ain't sorry" following it. But Bey really hit it out of the park with this one. I love how this is kinda like a trap ballad if that's even a thing. Great job Bey.

Now onto LEMONADE's best song. A masterpiece honestly. 6 fucking Inch. This song is massive. A Bey song has never hit me so hard on first listen as this one did. Bey sounds so fucking hot. Even The Weeknd slays me in this song. The entire song is just epic. I've been walking around singing the chorus like 24/7 now. If any song on the album is gonna be a smash it better be this one. The production is slick as fuck and the lyrics are just all around great. I find that artists either really hit mid tempos out of the park or totally fuck them up and Bey totally smashed this one. It's just so damn good. Good god Bey. Oh and the "come back" at the end is great.

I hate country music. But Daddy Lessons is fucking great. It's got enough country twang to keep me interested but not enough to turn me off. This song is so great. The chorus is a total earworm. I love the flow and lyrics in the verses. I was blasting this while driving earlier and was totally bopping. The "my daddy said shoot" lines in the chorus slay. Basically the entire song slays. If this is what Bey's idea of country music is then she can keep serving it cause this is fucking great.

Love Drought has such GREAT production. The album as a whole is really great production wise imo. I love the instrumental as the song opens. Sounds like something from an iamamiwhoami album. The verses are really great. I find that the chorus is a little bit of a let down lyrically but I feel it works in this case. It doesn't necessarily hurt the song as a whole. Bey crafted a really great R&B track here and I really don't care for R&B most of the time so props to ha. 

Sandcastles is just beautiful. My only gripe with it is that it's too short. It feels like it's over in the blink of an eye. Regardless though it's so emotional and raw. When Bey's voice cracks and just soars. The song really hits you. It's not too groundbreaking in that it's basically a traditional Bey ballad. I like this one a lot more though. I really like the lyrics. Maybe I just relate to it more than others, idrk. The song just has some really incredible moments where it just soars: lyrically, vocally and emotionally. Another track that Bey really did an amazing job with.

Forward is the only flaw I really find with LEMONADE. I find it unnecessary. I wish it was either extended into a full, more developed track or just not included at all. I don't get it's point. Maybe it fits more in the context of the film, I did only watch that once all the way through and just rewatched small bits. Not gonna talk much about this one for reasons already stated. 

The next track is a song I was not expecting. I like the noisiness of this song. I think it works better than it does on Don't Hurt Yourself. Freedom is so epic. I love the militaristic drums in the background. The song almost sounds like a modern war cry of sorts. Like Bey is marching into battle or something. It's so cinematic and strong. I totally was not expecting a song like this at this point in the album. After Love Drought and Sandcastles and Forward I thought the harder more edgy part of the album was done and we had entered the softer side of the album. I was wrong. Freedom is one of the strongest songs on the album in terms of quality and just being strong in that it exudes pure power. Kendrick's verse it great and I find it fits really well with the song. Fantastic song yet again Bey.

The caribbean feel is back again a bit with the next track. This is also the track that the horns were done right on unlike Hold Up. This song is one of my favorites. I love it so much. It's probably the most pop song on the album, at least I find it to be. I ABSOLUTELY love the chorus. The way Bey sings "all night long" is so great. I also really love that this song follows a more traditional structure. I find a lot of the album is pretty creative in terms of structure so it was really nice to get a song that isn't as creative in that regard. It allows it to stand out amongst the others. This song just makes me sway and makes me happy. It's really so great.

And now the album closer and "lead single" Formation. I still love this song. I can be a total sucker for a ratchet bop and Formation fits the bill 100%. The video remains flawless. The Formation video alone imo is better than the entire LEMONADE film minus the 6 Inch segment. This song just gets me so pumped. There's so many awesome lyrics in this. "When he fuck me good I take his ass to red lobster" is gonna forever be one of my favorite lines in a song. And all the "I slay"'s are great. Bey really just didn't give a fuck about what anyone would think or say with this song and it's wonderful. I really like how the album ends on a totally different note than it opens on. It makes the album really feel like a journey that has come to its end. 

That concludes the track by track section of my review. Other than Forward I honestly don't think this album has a single bad track. Forward isn't really bad, just unnecessary. Bey really hit it out of the park with the entire album for me. It took me so long to appreciate some tracks on Self-Titled and I still cannot get into some. LEMONADE on the other has has hit me so hard right off the bat. It's just great. Props to Bey for being able ton continuously put out really great quality albums. At this point I would say I prefer LEMONADE musically and Self-Titled visually. That of course is just personal preference. I think visually Self-Titled is more sleek and glam and that is something I personally really like. LEMONADE isn't bad by any means visually but I think the visual side of Self-Titled was done better. 

So yeah, that concludes my LEMONADE review! Great job once again Bey!