Bey released her sixth album Lemonade in an earthquake of a surprise release Saturday night. And after collecting our emotions, we listened (and listened again, and again), for some instant reactions to her most grown-up record yet.
Stream it via TIDAL here,
1. PRAY YOU CATCH ME
It's hard to divorce (ha! Get it?) the first few songs of this album from the Lemonade documentary, which seemed at first like it'd end in a Bey-Jay separation announcement. Compared to Beyonce's opener Pretty Hurts, this is a quieter, more wistful introduction. — Maeve McDermott
2. HOLD UP
Let's all say it together: Hold Up is already the song of the summer. If this isn't one of Lemonade's singles that sells a zillion copies and bangs from the radio all July, it'll be a personal offense. — McDermott
3. DON’T HURT YOURSELF (FEATURING JACK WHITE)
This collaboration doesn't exactly make sense on paper. But take the song's arsenal of classic Jack White tricks — the distorted rock 'n' roll vocals, the nimble foundation of drumbeats, the clashing chorus — and lend them to Beyonce, and it sounds fresh. — McDermott
4. SORRY
Is this the most profound Bey song she's ever made? Probably not, but it's a breezy, beautiful kiss-off that's enough to tell every below-average person in your life, "Boy, bye." — McDermott
5. 6 INCH (FEATURING THE WEEKND)
Beyonce drawls about hard-working women as The Weeknd joins her for a very on-brand feature about stacking money and drinking Hennessy on one of the album's weaker links. — McDermott
6. DADDY LESSONS
Where's Bey's CMA Award? Seriously, considering her roots, the fact that this is Bey's first country song with brass band horns is kinda remarkable. — McDermott
7. LOVE DROUGHT
Daddy Lessons serves as a turning point for the record, as the spare, woozy Love Drought transitions into Bey’s more familiar territory of soaring love songs. — McDermott
8. SANDCASTLES
Bey has never sounded better – or more gut-wrenchingly raw – than on this emotional, piano-driven ballad. — Patrick Ryan
Grab your tissues, folks! This is the album's big-lunged ballad, the one that reminds us that at her core, behind the supersized public persona that's become Beyonce, is an extraordinary voice. — McDermott
9. FORWARD (FEATURING JAMES BLAKE)
Some questions: why isn't this song three times as long? Why is this the first time the two artists, both of whom who've made us weep openly, are collaborating? And James, where the album at? — McDermott
10. FREEDOM (FEATURING KENDRICK LAMAR)
Kendrick and Beyonce are two artists who've spoken decisively and powerfully about blackness in America, and Freedom is a fittingly barn-burning collaboration.— McDermott
A soulful, motivational anthem that’s sure to crop up in gym playlists and movie trailers in no time. — Ryan
11. ALL NIGHT
Before Formation ends Lemonade with its fiery "roll-the-credits" closing, there's All Night, a warm, sidling love song buoyed by Outkast-sampling horns. — McDermott
12. FORMATION
Lemonade isn't the overtly political work some were expecting, so there's no better placement for Formation than at the album's coda, ending a record that traces the arc of a relationship with a definitive statement of self. — McDermott