What is so groundbreaking about Beyonce's Lemonade?

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Leading up to this year's Grammy Awards, there were a lot of articles criticizing previous years' winners, and one of them argued that Beck should never have beat out Beyonce because Lemonade was such a groundbreaking album.

I haven't ever heard an actual explanation of how or why it is as groundbreaking as it is supposed to be. So can anyone here explain what ground is broken or can I just write it off as groupthink?
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Neither are groundbreaking

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The commercial world of entertainment is not fair.

/thread
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Lemonade was groundbreaking in terms of Beyonce's body of work; it expanded her audience without alienating her base. It was very personal but also accessible, often transcendent.

I am really out of the loop when it comes to contemporary music but I bought Lemonade when it came out just because so many people I knew were talking about it. The album definitely feels like a cohesive work rather than a collection of songs. It's biographical in a muted, artistic way... like I don't think you're meant to interpret every lyric as historical fact, but there are hints and mysteries in there that I find much more interesting than strictly biographical writing.

I found the production very interesting. Again, I'm not really in touch with what other artists in this realm are up to, but these were top-notch productions all the way, with interesting arrangements and fluid movement. Many times I was reminded of Bjork, in terms of arrangement and overall sound.

Also, this album with its themes of racial and sexual identity from an artist as revered as Beyonce really resonated with people at its release. It was the right message at the right time, and she was the right person to deliver it.

I didn't hear the Beck record.

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Real ground breakers are not recognized by the grammys while they are breaking ground
they get the lifetime achievement style lip service later on
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UltimateOutsider wrote:Lemonade was groundbreaking in terms of Beyonce's body of work; it expanded her audience without alienating her base. It was very personal but also accessible, often transcendent.
That's interesting because I've heard less of this album when riding in my wife's car than her other stuff. My wife is not in Beyonce's core demographic, so I'm not sure about that album expanding Beyonce's audience.
I am really out of the loop when it comes to contemporary music but I bought Lemonade when it came out just because so many people I knew were talking about it. The album definitely feels like a cohesive work rather than a collection of songs. It's biographical in a muted, artistic way... like I don't think you're meant to interpret every lyric as historical fact, but there are hints and mysteries in there that I find much more interesting than strictly biographical writing.

I found the production very interesting. Again, I'm not really in touch with what other artists in this realm are up to, but these were top-notch productions all the way, with interesting arrangements and fluid movement. Many times I was reminded of Bjork, in terms of arrangement and overall sound.

Also, this album with its themes of racial and sexual identity from an artist as revered as Beyonce really resonated with people at its release. It was the right message at the right time, and she was the right person to deliver it.
An urban pop artist compared in any way to Bjork is not something I often hear. I guess that does break new ground in a way.
Even if the piano player can't play, keep the party going.
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Bjork has a fan base among hip hop artists/fans and has worked with Wu Tang so is it really?
Don't feed the gators,y'all
https://m.soundcloud.com/tonedeadj

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This is an observation not a criticsm; given the impressive talent on this list of credits she certainly had a lot of help and varied styles from which to draw to create her ambitious vision. Maybe that is what makes it exceptional.


1. "Pray You Catch Me"
Produced by Beyoncé and Kevin Garrett
Written By James Blake, Beyoncé, and Kevin Garrett

2. "Hold Up"
Produced by Ezra Koenig, Beyoncé, and Diplo
Written by Nick Zinner, Karen O, Brian Chase, Soulja Boy, Kevin McConnell, Antonio Randolph, Mort Schuman, Emile Haynie, Doc Pomus, MeLo-X, MNEK, Ezra Koenig, Beyoncé, Father John Misty, and Diplo

3. "Don't Hurt Yourself" f. Jack White
Produced by Beyoncé and Jack White
Written by John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, James Page, Wynter Gordon, Beyoncé, and Jack White

4. "Sorry"
Produced by Wynter Gordon, Beyoncé, and MeLo-X
Written by Wynter Gordon, Beyoncé, and MeLo-X

5. 6 Inch f. The Weeknd
Produced by boots, Beyoncé, Ben Billions, and Danny Boy Styles
Written By Hal David, Burt Bacharach, Brian Weitz, Noah Lennox, Dave Portner, ​boots, Belly, The-Dream, Ben Diehl, Danny SchofIeld, Beyoncé, The Weeknd

6. "Daddy Lessons"
Produced by Beyoncé
Written by Wynter Gordon, Beyoncé, Kevin Cossom, Alex Delicata

7. "Love Drought"
Produced by Mike Dean and Beyoncé
Written by Mike Dean, Ingrid Burley, Beyonc

8. "Sandcastles"
Produced by Beyoncé and Vincent L. Berry II
Written by Vincent L. Berry II, Beyoncé, Malik Yusef, Midian Mathers

9. Forward f. James Blake
Produced by Beyoncé and James Blake
Written by Beyoncé and James Blake

10. Freedom f. Kendrick Lamar
Produced by Jonny Coffer, Beyoncé and Just Blaze
Written by Jonathan Coffer, Beyoncé, Carla Williams, Dean Mcintosh, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Tirado, Alan Lomax, and John Lomax Sr.

11. "All Night"
Produced by Diplo, Beyoncé, and Henry Allen
Written by Diplo, Beyoncé, Rock City, Ilsey Juber, Akil King, Jaramye Daniels, André 3000, Sleepy Brown, Big Boi

12. "Formation"
Produced by Mike WiLL Made It
Written by Swae Lee and Beyoncé

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mumpcake wrote:...one of them argued that Beck should never have beat out Beyonce because Lemonade was such a groundbreaking album.

So can anyone here explain what ground is broken or can I just write it off as groupthink?
Considering Beck won the award, what makes the critique of it the "groupthink"? That is such a loaded word to start this conversation with.

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UltimateOutsider wrote: Also, this album with its themes of racial and sexual identity from an artist as revered as Beyonce really resonated with people at its release. It was the right message at the right time, and she was the right person to deliver it.
yes, very coincidental that a ghost-written entertainer pwned by an elite club of social engineers would deliver the 'right message' at just the right time.

Uncanny :roll:

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yellowmix wrote: Considering Beck won the award, what makes the critique of it the "groupthink"? That is such a loaded word to start this conversation with.
The point is not about whether Beck deserved the Grammy or whether she did. I don't know or do I care which one is more deserving.

The point is that all of a sudden everyone seemed to be calling it a groundbreaking album as if they were just repeating what someone else said. Very few times have I heard someone say why it was.

When I have heard someone call it groundbreaking, it has the same feel as when during a political argument, a bunch of people repeat the same "fact" that is out of their normal area of knowledge.

Granted, it could be groundbreaking and people are still calling that out of groupthink and not out of an understanding of its true merits.
Even if the piano player can't play, keep the party going.
http://www.soundclick.com/mumpcake
https://mumpfucious.wordpress.com/

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Scotty wrote:This is an observation not a criticsm; given the impressive talent on this list of credits she certainly had a lot of help and varied styles from which to draw to create her ambitious vision. Maybe that is what makes it exceptional.
She did receive a lot of criticism for that as well, but then DJ Shadow's first album was also considered groundbreaking, and if he were to have cleared samples his list of credited songwriters could be even longer.
Even if the piano player can't play, keep the party going.
http://www.soundclick.com/mumpcake
https://mumpfucious.wordpress.com/

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mumpcake wrote:The point is that all of a sudden everyone seemed to be calling it a groundbreaking album as if they were just repeating what someone else said. Very few times have I heard someone say why it was.

When I have heard someone call it groundbreaking, it has the same feel as when during a political argument, a bunch of people repeat the same "fact" that is out of their normal area of knowledge.

Granted, it could be groundbreaking and people are still calling that out of groupthink and not out of an understanding of its true merits.
Okay, I don't have your experiences but I haven't seen "everyone" calling it groundbreaking, and I can't find any major media saying so in a Google search. I have read it described as "a revolutionary work about black feminism". Some people might translate that to "groundbreaking". Would you agree with that description?

If not, I have to ask, what do you consider "groundbreaking" for a commercial work of pop music?

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For me groundbreaking pushes boundaries and does things that haven't been done before, although there's still an element of "I'll know it when I see it" there.

Of course you and I can have differences of opinions of what is groundbreaking or genius or revolutionary. The hype that is surrounding that album is a bit strong, and yet I don't really understand why this is supposed to be as significant of an album as its supporters often claim it to be.
Even if the piano player can't play, keep the party going.
http://www.soundclick.com/mumpcake
https://mumpfucious.wordpress.com/

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Last edited by Chapelle on Sat Oct 07, 2023 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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