Lemonade is the Beyoncé album built around a six-act visual project released in 2016.
Beyoncé released Lemonade on April 23, 2016, following the premiere of its accompanying hour-long film on HBO. The project combines music, poetry, spoken passages, and imagery into chapters associated with emotions and stages of personal and cultural reflection. Its themes include betrayal, family history, race, womanhood, resilience, and reconciliation.
The album includes “Formation,” “Sorry,” “Hold Up,” “Freedom,” “All Night,” and “Daddy Lessons.” It features guest performers including Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, James Blake, and The Weeknd. The visual film includes appearances by Serena Williams, Zendaya, and Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
Lemonade is sometimes treated as only a breakup album, but its scope is broader. Beyoncé connected intimate relationship themes with Black history and Southern identity. The album received nine Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and won Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video for “Formation.”