My friend made a remark about the Beyonce album Lemonade. This reminded me that I’ve been wanting to listen to it since it came out. I have never gotten around to it. I knew I wanted to give it a serious listen since it has received such great reviews. After hunting around for a free version I could stream and coming up empty handed, I decided to just download the whole thing from iTunes. I don’t usually download entire albums without hearing the songs first, but I trusted that this would be worth it since it’s already a classic. Plus, the album came with the video album and, being a child of MTV, I was sold. I love me some music videos.

I listened to the album twice since yesterday and watched the video album. I love it. I think it’s brilliant.

Since I’m currently involved in a slightly obsessive Sylvia Plath kick, I can’t help but make comparisons. Plath wrote her most brilliant work in a fit of rage as she dealt with her husband’s affair. Sadly, her story doesn’t end well. And it’s even worse that her husband completely disrespected her by making money off of her work posthumously, not having to decency to even publish her greatest accomplishment in the way that she clearly wanted it. But that is a rant for another time.

Beyonce’s story is different. Here is the story of a strong woman who works through her trauma and ends up a stronger woman on the other side. The album is raw, and emotional. I love it.