If you haven’t watched (and please watch it—don’t just listen to it) Beyoncé’s LEMONADE yet, read Bené Viera’s piece below first. If you have watched it, read it now.
This album is a big deal. And it’s not a big deal—or a bunch of consumers deluding ourselves into “thinking” it’s a big deal—just because it’s a Beyoncé album. Mark my words, this isn’t a case of an artist’s own hype duping the masses into false reverence. If you’re convinced that this is only a big deal because its lyrics shovel a new heap of gasoline-soaked coal into the ol’ gossip furnace (“Did he really cheat?!”), you would also be wrong.
LEMONADE is a big deal because it is this exact album and because Beyoncé is the vehicle for it. You cannot separate one from the other here; as McLuhan told us decades ago, the medium is the message. It is an album rife with commentary about femininity, masculinity, blackness, betrayal, vulnerability, uncertainty, and spirituality as performed by an international megastar who happens to be as cross-culturally embraced for her beauty, poise, and total reserve as she is for her talent.
LEMONADE is a big deal because it marks a key cultural moment. It tells stories that have been told before, sure—but not told like this. Not all at once. Not by Beyoncé. And, like it or not, this matters. LEMONADE is pop art that reminds us that, in spite of ourselves, we are living through an important cultural shift.
I could write so much more, but even though I absolutely knew what “call Becky with the good hair” meant without Googling it, I’m gonna go ahead and put my pen down, per Ms. Viera’s request.
I Still Read Your Horoscope 