Lemonade is Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album that explores Black womanhood and includes “Formation.”
Released on April 23, 2016, Lemonade combined a twelve-track audio album with a one-hour film broadcast on HBO. The project moves through themes commonly described as intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reform, forgiveness, hope, and redemption. Its music draws on pop, R&B, rock, blues, country, hip-hop, and spoken-word traditions.
“Formation” was released before the album and became one of its most discussed songs. The visual album also features appearances by Serena Williams, Zendaya, and Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter. It received widespread critical acclaim and won the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
Lemonade is often confused with Beyoncé, the singer’s 2013 self-titled visual album. The earlier project used surprise digital release and included “Drunk in Love,” while Lemonade used a film-length visual presentation and centered its own connected narrative.