Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album built around themes of Black womanhood was Lemonade.
Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records released Lemonade on April 23, 2016. It arrived alongside an hour-long film broadcast on HBO, combining songs with poetry, imagery, and performances. The album draws on R&B, rock, blues, pop, soul, hip-hop, and country influences.
Its narrative explores infidelity, anger, grief, reconciliation, family history, and resilience. The project also places particular emphasis on Black women and on Beyoncé’s relationship to Southern cultural traditions. Collaborators included Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, James Blake, The Weeknd, and Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z.
Lemonade debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. It is sometimes described simply as an album, but its defining format is a visual album: the music and film were designed as a connected artistic work.