Beyoncé has tapped “Sorry” as the first video (watch below) from her album Lemonade for public release, which makes total sense. In many ways, it’s been the main engine for the album, in part because of the way it was embraced as a woman’s anthem vis-a-vis the key hooks “I ain’t sorry,” “Boy bye!” and “Middle fingers up,” all expressing a defiant/angry mindset women are stereotypically not allowed to own. However, the song reached another level altogether because of the epic tons of fall out and drama connected to it. All quite amazing when you consider it was really just a solitary song. And on that note, let us never underestimate the soul-stirring power of music, especially as delivered by our culture’s biggest idols.
Check out below the top ten legendary moments of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”:
1. “Sorry” was written and produced by Wynter Gorden, Sean “Melo-X” Rhoden and Beyoncé. Gorden and Rhoden were interviewed about what went into composing the song by Pitchfork.
2. The song features spoken word poetry by Somali-English poet Warsan Shire.
3. The black and white video was directed by New York-based Dikayl Rimmasch, who also directed Beyoncé and Jay-Z‘s “Bang Bang” video, associated with their 2014 On the Run tour.
4. The day after Lemonade was released (June 22nd) on HBO, the internet basically exploded when Rachel Roy uploaded a post on Instagram implying she might be “Becky with the good hair.” Roy came under attack by the Beyhive and deleted the post shortly thereafter.
5. Rita Ora jumped in the mix with an Instagram post (since deleted) featuring a poster from the 1973 film Ash Wednesday. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, the moive was themed around a woman who undergoes plastic surgery in an attempt to save her marriage, a message viewed as a shot at the health of Beyoncé and Jay Z’s union. Ora continued to do the most by sneaking in a selfie with a less-than-thrilled-looking Beyoncé at the Met Gala, and at an after party, wore a name tag reading “Not Becky.” Perhaps tiring of the attacks of a furious Beyhive, she waved the white flag with a couple of Tweets reading, “The rumors are false” and “I have the utmost respect for Beyoncé.”
6. Azealia Banks on Twitter (deleted along with her entire account) went off on the scene showing Beyoncé sitting in a throne while tennis superstar Serena Williams twerked nearby because of the way she viewed it as positioning Beyonce as superior to Williams. Rapper Khia also complained, saying, “[Beyonce] sad [Serena Williams] as her goddamn jester, dancing and stripping for her. I can’t believe Serena got on there and was Beyonce’s prop, twerking in a body suit in this long ass, black slave ass video,” adding, “Here you is, black as a black, juicy berry, and you getting in front of this hoe and letting her have her legs gaped open in the chair while you twerking for her like the slave masters had us doing.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Williams followed up with an interview in which talked about how excited she was to take on the roll.
7. Style-wise, the striking makeup looks in the bus scene were created by Nigerian-born Laolu Senbanjo, who was inspired by looks traditionally worn by Yoruban tribes.
8. Marni Senofonte oversaw styling for the entire Lemonade project and hair was handled by Kim Kimble, who breaks down all the looks here.
9. Beyoncé’s black beaded bodysuit worn while sitting in the aforementioned throne was designed by Yousef Aljasmi and Serena’s was designed by Brandon Maxwell. In the bus scene, the graphic jacket Beyonce’ wears was designed by Neil Barrett.
10. “Lemonade” has been lip synced to no end on social media, but perhaps none more adorably than this baby girl who got a bit to caught up in the moment for her momma’s liking:
hahaha being part of the BEYHIVE is tricky pic.twitter.com/AwrFlj8mMK
— M O N T A N A (@sir_camble) June 11, 2016
