Beyonce’s premiere of her new visual album, Lemonade, on HBO Saturday night had the entire internet buzzing. Was it an announcement that she is divorcing her husband Jay-Z? Was it a movie? How do the songs stack up against her last visual album, 2013’s Beyonce? Is Bey that big of a fan of True Detective? While some of those questions have answers, the singer’s fans have been left to speculate about the hints she dropped about her personal life. Just ask fashion designer Rachel Roy and the many, many angry comments on her social media accounts.
Besides the mysterious allusions to marital strife, her relationship with her father, and – obviously – “Becky with the good hair,” Beyonce also made sure to include a slew of powerful and amazing women throughout the album, keeping with her feminist beliefs and continuing support of diverse artists. Mashable rounded up the best appearances for anybody who might have blinked and missed a cameo.
The most famous surprise guest was of course Serena Williams, one of the best (if not outright the best) female tennis players of all time. Williams was recently linked to Canadian rapper Drake, whether through friendship only or something more intimate, so that provides a nice link directly to the Jay/Bey dynasty. Serena does everything from twerk to serve as Bey’s hype person throughout the track, and every second is endlessly gif-able and marvelous.
Bey also highlighted a younger generation of Black singers and actresses including Zendaya, Chloe and Halle Bailey (who are on Beyonce’s record label), and Amandla Stenberg who is best known from The Hunger Games, all in one shot. There was also Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis on screen with Blue Ivy (which would be the coolest babysitting duo), America’s Next Top Model contestant Winnie Harlow, and the incredibly talented ballerina Michaela DePrince. On the more touching and bittersweet side of things, there were members of Bey’s family and some political choices as well. Jay-Z was featured (so maybe no divorce after all?), as was his grandmother, as well as footage of her mom Tina on her wedding day to her second husband, Richard Lawson.
In line with the activist tones of recent single “Formation,” Bey also featured mothers who lost their sons to police brutality with photos of their deceased children. That piece of the hour-long special was by far the most heartbreaking, but it did what Beyonce wanted and undercut the more salacious or angry parts of her album with an important observation on America and police violence. The entire thing is currently available on TIDAL, so if you missed it airing on HBO, you can catch all of these guest stars and more by signing up and absorbing more.
(via Mashable)
