Beyonce and Jay Z‘s marriage is over. The estranged couple is divorcing after 8 years of marriage. Beyonce pours out her frustration and bitterness in a collection of songs on her latest album, Lemonade, which dropped Saturday on Tidal after the premiere of her HBO special of the same name.
Lemonade is Beyonce’s version of Marvin Gaye‘s ultimate break-up album: Here, My Dear. Gaye released the album in 1978 as part of the $1 million alimony his ex-wife, Anna Gordy, demanded in their bitter divorce.
Here, My Dear was a critical and commercial flop as fans rejected Gaye’s effort to share his emotional pain with them.
Similarly wallowing in self-pity, Beyonce assails her womanizing husband Jay Z for being a man and doing what men do: cheat.
Lemonade is as bitter as Gaye’s Here, My Dear was in 1978. It was difficult for Gaye’s fans to watch a talented man grovel before his ex-wife.
Beyonce’s fans are just as puzzled and disappointed as Gaye’s fans were in 1978.
Lemonade‘s music is banal; the visuals are depressing; her lyrics are repetitive, tiresome and pointless.
Beyonce’s descent into madness is a source of concern for her fans. The music is secondary to her overall mental condition.
In a spoken word poem, Beyonce symbolically kills and dissects Jay Z’s nameless mistress with the precision of a forensic pathologist.
“If it’s what you truly want/ I can wear her skin over mine/ Her hair over mine/ Her hands as gloves/ Her teeth as confetti/ Her scalp, a cap/ Her sternum, my bedazzled cane/ We can pose for a photograph/ All three of us/ Immortalized/ You and your perfect girl.”
In another spoken word poem titled “Apathy,” Beyonce feels sorry for herself: “So what are you gonna say at my funeral now that you’ve killed me? Here lies the body of the love of my life, whose heart I broke without a gun to my head. Here lies the mother of my children, both living and dead.”
On another track, Beyonce issues an ultimatum to Jay Z: “Uh, this is your final warning/ You know I give you life/ You try this shit again/ You gonna lose your wife.”
Beyonce will get little sympathy from her fans. She knew who Jay Z was and she still married him. It’s her fault for thinking she was so perfect that he would change his ways for her.
Don’t bore us with your problems, Beyonce. Sign the divorce papers and get on with your life.
