WHEN Beyonce dropped her bold, politically charged new single Formation back in February, many speculated the album to follow would be similarly concerned with issues affecting the world at large.
As it turns out, Lemonade — both the album and its accompanying hour-long film — is largely concerned with matters closer to home.
Ever since the infamous ‘elevator incident’ of 2014, when Bey’s sister Solange was caught on security cameras savagely attacking Jay Z while Beyonce coolly looked on, many have wondered if cracks were appearing in the power couple’s relationship.
Now, Lemonade’s lyrics leave little doubt that there’s been trouble in paradise for the pair in the ensuing two-and-a-half years. The lyrics are shocking in their frankness, and the album reads as the chronological fallout of a partner’s infidelity: shock, anger, and then — in this case — acceptance, as the pair work things out and move forward.
We’ve collated the most pointed and personal lyrics from the songs here. Taken as a whole, they arguably say more about what Beyonce and Jay Z have been through in the past couple of years than any tell-all interview could.
Track 1: Pray You Catch Me
“You can taste the dishonesty / It’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier ...”
“What are you doing my love?”
Interlude
“So what are you going to 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. Rest in peace, my true love, who I took for granted.”
‘Children both living and dead’ appears to reference both Bey and Jay Z’s four-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, and Beyonce’s earlier miscarriage, which she first revealed in her documentary Life Is But A Dream.
Track 2: Hold Up
“I smell your secret, and I’m not too perfect
To ever feel this worthless
How did it come down to this?
Going through your call list
I don’t wanna lose my pride, but I’ma f**k me up a bitch
Know that I kept it sexy, and know I kept it fun
There’s something that I’m missing, maybe my head for one”
“What’s worse, lookin’ jealous or crazy?
Or like being walked all over lately,
I’d rather be crazy”
“Let’s imagine for a moment that you never made a name for yourself
Or mastered wealth, they had you labelled as a king
Never made it out the cage, still out there movin’ in them streets
Never had the baddest woman in the game up in your sheets
Would they be down to ride?”
Interlude
“You remind me of my father, a magician … able to exist in two places at once. In the tradition of men in my blood, you come home at 3am and lie to me. What are you hiding? The past and the future merge to meet us here. What luck. What a f**king curse.”
“Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks.”
Track 3: Don’t Hurt Yourself
“Who the f**k do you think I am?
You ain’t married to no average bitch boy
And keep your money, I got my own
Get a bigger smile on my face, being alone”
“I smell that fragrance on your Louie V boy
Just give my fat ass a big kiss boy
Tonight I’m f**king up all your s**t boy”
“This is your final warning
You know I give you life
If you try this s**t again
You gon’ lose your wife ...”
At this point in the film, Beyonce takes off her wedding ring and throws it at the camera.
Track 4: Sorry
“Headed to the club, I ain’t thinking ‘bout you
Suck on my b***s, I had enough”
“Now you want to say you’re sorry
Now you want to call me crying
Now I’m the one that’s lying
And I don’t feel bad about it
It’s exactly what you get”
“Looking at my watch, he shoulda been home
Today I regret the night I put that ring on
He always got them f***ing excuses
I pray to the Lord you reveal what his truth is
I left a note in the hallway
By the time you read it, I’ll be far away”
“Suicide before you see this tear fall down my eyes
Me and my baby, we gon’ be alright
We gon’ live a good life”
“He only want me when I’m not there
He better call Becky with the good hair”
Interlude
“I tried to change, closed my mouth more, tried to be softer, prettier, less awake... but still inside me, coiled deep, was the need to know…are you cheating on me?”
Track 7: Daddy Lessons
“My daddy warned me about men like you
He said baby girl he’s playing you
Cause when trouble comes in town
And men like me come around
Oh, my daddy said shoot”
Track 8: Love Drought
“Ten times out of nine, I know you’re lying
But nine times outta ten, I know you’re trying
So I’m trying to be fair”
“Are you aware you’re my lifeline, are you tryna kill me?”
“I always paid attention, been devoted — tell me, what did I do wrong?”
Track 9: Sandcastles
“Dishes smashed on my counter from our last encounter
Pictures snatched out the frame
Bitch, I scratched out your name and your face
What is it about you that I can’t erase, baby?”
“And your heart is broken cause I walked away
And I know I promised that I couldn’t stay
Every promise don’t work out that way”
Track 10: Forward
“It’s time to listen, it’s time to fight
Now we can be open for a while
Go back to your sleep in your favourite spot just next to me”
Track 11: All Night
“Found the truth beneath your lies
And true love never has to hide
I’ve seen your scars and kissed your crime”
“They say true love’s the greatest weapon
To win the war caused by pain
But every diamond has imperfections
But my love’s too pure to watch it chip away
Oh nothing real can be threatened
With every tear came redemption
And my torturer became a remedy”
And the final lyric, before Formation completely changes the topic as an album closer:
“How I missed you, my love.”
Neither Beyonce or Jay Z — who appears in the Lemonade film, holding his wife tight and looking repentant while she sings about forgiveness — have made any public statement about Lemonade or how it should be received and interpreted. It appears that, for now, Beyonce’s happy to let her music do the talking.
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