The singer’s sixth album was released unexpectedly – but what have critics made of it?
The Guardian: ***** Kitty Empire described the music as: “not just prurient catnip, but actual dynamite – a dazzling series of edgy, but tuneful collaborations with a diverse array of guests.”
Pitchfork.com: “The songwriting is littered with scenes that seem positively cinematic.”
Rolling Stone.com:***** Rob Sheffield wrote: “Lemonade is her most emotionally extreme music, but also her most sonically adventurous.”
Consequence of Sound: “Lemonade marks Beyoncé’s most accomplished work yet.”
The Telegraph: ***** Neil McCormick was enthusiastic about the album saying: “Lemonade offers a gripping narrative of betrayal, recrimination, depression and, ultimately, healing and reconciliation.”
NME: **** Larry Bartleet commented: “Lemonade is strikingly varied.”
Spin.com: “Lemonade presents Bey at her most skilled and fully matriculated as a pop studio maven and conductor of the present’s preferred orchestral mode: creative file-sharing.”
Drowned in Sound: “with new album Lemonade Beyoncé ‘dropped a Beyoncé’ with a vengeance – and she’s outdone herself in the process.”
The Independent: ***** Everett True thought: “Her voice though, in its rawness of emotion and tear duct-filling emotion, pushes at the boundaries of what is considered acceptable.”
The Verge.com: ” Lemonade may not be as musically robust as Beyoncé’s other work, but it has the narrative depth to sustain an infinite number of interpretations, and within lies the greatness of the album’s achievement.”
The New York Times: “in matters of the heart, with their complications and paradoxes, Beyoncé joins all of us.”
Time Out:***** “But it’s also a testament to her star quality that despite the many, many cooks in this kitchen, ‘Lemonade’ feels like an album only Beyoncé could make.”
Lemonade is available to buy and download from the 6th May.