Lemonade is the Beyoncé album known for its visual narrative about Black womanhood and family history.
Released in 2016, Lemonade combines songs with a 65-minute film that premiered on HBO. Its themes include betrayal, healing, ancestry, resilience, motherhood, and Black identity. The project draws on poetry by Warsan Shire and uses multiple musical styles, including R&B, rock, country, blues, and hip-hop.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became Beyoncé’s sixth consecutive number-one album in the United States. It received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 59th Grammy Awards.
The title’s imagery is connected to a passage attributed to Beyoncé’s grandmother, Hattie White, about making lemonade from lemons. Lemonade is distinct from Beyoncé’s later Renaissance and Cowboy Carter album projects.