The hour-long “video album” debuted on USA cable channel HBO on Saturday April 23, and was then made available to stream on Jay Z’s TIDAL service – without any download options.
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As for “Lemonade”, a Tidal rep has told Billboard that it will be the only streaming service to ever carry the album, though that presumably relies on the platform’s long term survival and/or Jay-Z‘s desire to remain its owner.
Described as a “visual album”, it was made with producer James Blake and comes accompanied by a 60-minute music video which links together the stories and themes of the album.
It’s fair to say Beyonce always looks incredible, but Lemonade showed us it’s not all about the looks for Bey.
Indeed numerous 34-year-old’s tracks, which were unveiled on HBO over the weekend, focus on themes of infidelity and marital problems – issues which have long circled the singer and her husband of eight years, Jay Z.
CNN said that the album is a collection of music videos about women empowerment and relationships. Beyoncé surprised fans once again with the release of her brand new album, Lemonade, on Saturday, April 23.
On Saturday night, Tidal promoted itself as the only place where listeners could access “Lemonade”.
On “Hold Up”, an intoxicating song with an island beat, a smiling Beyonce takes “Crazy in Love” to a new level: She smashes a bat on everything around her while reminding her man that other women “don’t love you like I love you”.
That led to fans trying to read the tea leaves regarding the state of Beyonce’s marriage to Jay Z.
Footage from the “If I Were A Boy” hitmaker’s personal archive was also shared including her pregnant belly and her daughter Blue Ivy, four, playing football with Jay Z.
It was unclear what Queen Bey had in store, but many fans speculated that she would release an album on the cusp of her upcoming “Formation” world tour, which kicks off Wednesday in Miami.
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Case in point? The song “Sorry”, where Beyonce sings: “I see them boppers in the corner / They sneaking out the back door / He only want me when I’m not there / He better call Becky with the good hair“. They pointed to “clues”, including photos of lemons Beyonce posted on social media.
