Lemonade was presented as a visual album in Beyoncé’s 2016 HBO special.
The album was released on April 23, 2016, alongside Lemonade, a film that combined music videos, poetry, spoken narration, and striking visual imagery. The project was first shown on HBO and then distributed as an album.
Lemonade moves through themes including infidelity, grief, anger, reconciliation, family, and Black womanhood. Its sound incorporates R&B, rock, country, blues, reggae, and hip-hop, giving the album a deliberately wide musical range.
The project includes “Formation,” “Sorry,” “Hold Up,” and “Freedom.” It received broad critical acclaim and earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Lemonade is sometimes confused with Beyoncé’s 2013 self-titled visual album, but Lemonade was the project tied to the 2016 HBO film.