Beyoncé released Lemonade in 2016 as a visual album about infidelity, identity, and Black womanhood.
The album premiered on HBO on April 23, 2016, alongside a film combining music, poetry, and cinematic imagery. Its songs move through emotional and thematic chapters, including grief, anger, forgiveness, hope, and redemption. The project draws on Southern Black cultural imagery and includes references to family history, motherhood, and resilience.
Lemonade became Beyoncé’s sixth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200. It includes songs such as “Formation,” “Sorry,” “Hold Up,” and “Freedom.” The album received widespread critical acclaim and multiple Grammy nominations, although it did not win Album of the Year.
“Lemonade” is sometimes described only as a music album, but its defining release was a combined audio and visual project. That distinction separates it from Beyoncé’s later studio albums Renaissance and Cowboy Carter.