Beyoncé’s much-anticipated short film “Lemonade” premiered last night on HBO–and if there’s anyone who could get the vast majority of people to stay in on a Saturday night, it’s Bey. Given that there wasn’t a lot of info surrounding “Lemonade” before its premiere, fans speculated whether it would be another visual album–similar to the release of Beyoncé’s prior album, Beyoncé, which paired songs with short films. While “Lemonade” clocked in at about an hour-long, it combined linear storytelling with songs, poetry and family footage–and featured cameos by Amandla Stenberg, Serena Williams, Zendaya and Quvenzhané Wallis.
Before “Lemonade” had even finished airing on HBO, the album of the same name was released exclusively to Tidal, a music streaming service owned by Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z. According to reports, Lemonade will only be available to stream on Tidal for the time being–there’s no word yet on if it will be released on other streaming services after a certain timeframe. (Based on the track listing, we now know that “Formation”, which Bey put out as a single earlier this year prior to her Super Bowl performance, also appears on the album.) UPDATED: It’s now being reported that Tidal’s exclusive rights will end at 10 p.m. tonight, after which “Lemonade” will be available via iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.
This marks an even bigger step in the direction of Beyoncé having full ownership and control over her music–while Beyoncé and its corresponding music videoswere available for purchase and download on iTunes immediately, their release wasn’t promoted or advertised in any way prior to that digital launch. Lemonade takes it one step further–the film, which premiered on HBO yesterday, will only be available to watch until tonight before being taken down. As for the album itself? Fans are already clamoring to buy it, but there’s no question that Beyoncé knows exactly what she’s doing in terms of when her fans get to hear her music–and how they get to take it in.
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