Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Pop, R&B, Rep i Hip-Hop
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

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Studio album by Beyoncé
Released April 23, 2016
Recorded 2014–2016
Studio
Apex and Mad Decent (Burbank)
The Beehive, Conway, Henson, and Record Plant (Los Angeles)
Jungle City (New York City)
Larrabee, Mirrorball, and Pacifique (North Hollywood)
Skip Saylor (Northridge)
Genre
Pophip hopart pop[1]R&B[2]
Length 45:45
Label
ParkwoodColumbia
Producer
BeyoncéDiploKevin GarrettJeremy McDonaldEzra KoenigJack WhiteMeLo-XDiana GordonBootsDannyBoyStylesBen BillionsMike DeanVincent Berry IIJames BlakeJonathan CofferJust BlazeMike Will Made It
Beyoncé chronology
Beyoncé
(2013) Lemonade
(2016) Everything Is Love
(2018)

Lemonade is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. It was released on April 23, 2016, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records, accompanied by a 65-minute film of the same name. It is a concept album with a song cycle that relates Beyoncé`s emotional journey after her husband Jay-Z`s infidelity in a generational and racial context. Primarily a pop, art pop, hip hop and R&B album, Lemonade encompasses a variety of genres, including reggae, blues, rock, soul, funk, Americana, country, gospel, electronic, and trap. It features guest vocals from Jack White, the Weeknd, James Blake and Kendrick Lamar, and contains samples and interpolations of a number of hip hop and rock songs.

Lemonade was released to universal acclaim and has since been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. Critics commended the genre experimentation, production, Beyoncé’s vocals, and the political subject matter reflecting Beyoncé’s personal life. It was music critics` top album of 2016, and was named the greatest album of the 2010s by publications such as the Associated Press. The album topped Rolling Stone`s Greatest Albums of the 21st Century list,[3] and was placed at number 10 on the Apple Music 100 Best Albums list and number 32 on Rolling Stone`s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (2017), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It won Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video. The album`s visuals received 11 nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, of which it won eight including Breakthrough Long Form Video and Video of the Year. The film also won a Peabody Award in Entertainment, and received four nominations at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Lemonade topped the charts in various countries worldwide, including the US Billboard 200, where it earned 653,000 with additional album-equivalent units, including 485,000 copies in its first week of sales. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By the end of 2016, Lemonade had sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States, making it the third-best-selling album of the year in the US, and it was the best-selling album of 2016, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with 2.5 million copies sold worldwide. The album was supported by five singles: `Formation`, which was a top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, `Sorry`, `Hold Up`, `Freedom`, and `All Night`. Four days after the release, Beyoncé embarked on The Formation World Tour, an all-stadium tour visiting North America and Europe.

Background
On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released `Formation` for free on the music streaming service Tidal and an accompanying unlisted music video on her official YouTube account.[4] The unlisted format of the video meant it was inaccessible by search, and viewers could only watch it through others who had shared the video link, or through articles and webpages that embedded the video.[5] Beyoncé later released an identical public version of the unlisted video on YouTube on December 9, 2016. Both videos still exist.[6] The day after the song and video`s release, Beyoncé performed `Formation` during her performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show.[7] Immediately after the performance, a commercial aired announcing The Formation World Tour, which kicked off in Miami, Florida on April 27, 2016, with the first pre-sales going on sale just two days after the announcement on February 9, 2016.[8] Beyoncé was both praised[9] and criticized[10] over her `Formation` and the Black Panther-influenced costume for her Super Bowl halftime performance.[11] As a result of this, the hashtags `#BoycottBeyonce` and `#IStandWithBeyonce` began trending on social media platforms such as Twitter and Beyoncé faced boycotts from police unions.[12] A group of protesters planned to stage an `anti-Beyoncé` rally outside of the NFL`s headquarters in New York City, New York on the day general sale of tickets went for sale,[13] but no protesters showed up; instead, dozens of Beyoncé supporters held a rally for her.[14]

When asked what she wanted to accomplish with the next phase of her career in an interview with Elle, published on April 4, 2016, Beyoncé said: `I hope I can create art that helps people heal! Art that makes people feel proud of their struggle. Everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform.
Recording and production
Lemonade was recorded between June 2014 and July 2015 across 11 studios in the United States.[16] Beyoncé had the idea to write each song corresponding to the eleven chapters that can be seen in the Lemonade film, and posted moodboards around the studio representing each chapter to provide direction to her collaborators.[17][18] Beyoncé and her collaborators also played music in the studio to inspire each other.[19] The album was written in stages, with Beyoncé retreating to her home to work on the recordings with recording and mixing engineer Stuart White, as well as to take care of her daughter. The process began at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, which the team used for a month. They then took a break, and later went to Paris for 45 days. The team stayed in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms, one for Beyoncé and one for Jay-Z.[20] Jay-Z recounted how he and Beyoncé recorded music both separately and together, describing it as `using our art almost like a therapy session` after his infidelity. The music that Beyoncé recorded separately was what became Lemonade and was released first.[21]

Lemonade was produced through Beyoncé`s synthesis of the work of many collaborators, including both popular and lesser known artists.[22] MNEK relayed how `Hold Up` was written, saying `The way Beyoncé works, the song is a jigsaw piece and then she will piece various elements. It could be a bit that she`s written, a bit that someone else has written and she`ll make that the bridge; a bit I`ve written she`ll make the middle eight`.[18] MNEK also explains that Beyoncé was `overlooking everything, saying `I like this, I like that, this is how this should sound, this is how that should sound."[23] `Don`t Hurt Yourself` collaborator Jack White describes how `she took just sort of a sketch of a lyrical outline and turned into the most bodacious, vicious, incredible song... I`m so amazed at what she did with it.`[24] `Hold Up` and `Sorry` co-writer and co-producer MeLo-X explains that `she has a way of creating that I`ve never seen before as an artist. She produces, alters and arranges tracks in ways I wouldn`t think of.`[22] When talking about how he scored the Lemonade film as well, MeLo-X explains `She`s hands on with everything. She gives direction on everything and is very involved with the whole process. It`s inspiring to see an artist on that level be able to just still have an eye for certain things and an ear... We would just sit down and go over with different things and different scenes and sounds and kind of put it together piece by piece.`[19]

Themes
We all experience pain and loss, and often we become inaudible. My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history. To confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It`s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families — as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys — and see themselves, and have no doubt that they`re beautiful, intelligent and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race. And I feel it`s vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes.

—Beyoncé during her acceptance speech for the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album[25]
As a multimedia audiovisual artwork, Lemonade relates the emotional journey of Beyoncé after her husband Jay-Z`s infidelity in a generational and racial context through its music, lyrics, visuals and poetry.[26] The Lemonade album is a song cycle (referencing the classical compositional genre defined in German Lieder by Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms) that is performed as an elaboration of the Kübler-Ross model, with the tracks (excluding `Formation`) corresponding to the eleven chapters of the Lemonade film: `Intuition`, `Denial`, `Anger`, `Apathy`, `Emptiness`, `Accountability`, `Reformation`, `Forgiveness`, `Resurrection`, `Hope`, and `Redemption`.[27]

Melina Matsoukas, the director of the `Formation` music video, said that Beyoncé explained to her the concept behind Lemonade, stating: `She wanted to show the historical impact of slavery on black love, and what it has done to the black family, and black men and women—how we`re almost socialized not to be together.`[28] Beyoncé wrote on this in a 2018 Vogue article about the `generational curses` in her family, explaining that she comes `from a lineage of broken male-female relationships, abuse of power, and mistrust`, including a slave owner who married a slave. Beyoncé continues, writing `Only when I saw that clearly was I able to resolve those conflicts in my own relationship. Connecting to the past and knowing our history makes us both bruised and beautiful.`[29]

This theme is repeated throughout Lemonade, with Beyoncé`s grief, trauma and struggle being connected to that of her family`s ancestors.[30] The sixth track `Daddy Lessons` acts as a turning point for the album, with Beyoncé linking Jay-Z cheating on her with her father Mathew Knowles cheating on her mother Tina.[31] Towards the end of Lemonade, Beyoncé reveals the meaning behind the title, showing Jay-Z`s grandmother Hattie White saying `I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade`, and describing her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, as an `alchemist` who `spun gold out of this hard life` with the instructions to overcome these challenges passed down through generations like a lemonade recipe.[32]

Black feminism
Miriam Bale for Billboard called Lemonade `a revolutionary work of Black feminism` as `a movie made by a black woman, starring Black women, and for Black women`, in which Beyoncé is seen gathering, uniting and leading Black women throughout the film.[33] As well as relating the story of Beyoncé`s relationship with her husband, Lemonade also chronicles the relationship between Black women and American society. This includes how the United States betrayed and continually mistreats Black women, with society needing to solve its problems in order to enable reformation and the rehabilitation of Black women.[34][35] As part of reverting the societal oppression and silencing of Black women, Lemonade centralizes the experiences of Black women in a way that is not often seen in the media, and celebrates their achievements despite the adversity they face.[36][37]

`Don`t Hurt Yourself` contains a quote from Malcolm X in which he said `The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman`. The Black female public figures that Beyoncé featured in the film all have successful careers despite experiencing misogynoir and racism in the media.[38] The film also contains clips of everyday Black women from working class communities, bringing visibility to Black women who are often ignored and undermined by society.[37] The film envisions a space where there was never oppression of Black women, whereby Beyoncé and other Black women form a self-sufficient community in which they can heal together.[39][40] Lemonade also defies and dismantles stereotypical representations of Black women as monolithic and angry Black women, instead attributing them complexity, agency, strength and vulnerability.[38]

To create Lemonade, Beyoncé drew from the work of a wide variety of Black women who are often overlooked or forgotten. The music draws inspiration from Black female blues musicians such as Shug Avery, Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who also used their personal trauma to empower Black women, as well as samples songs originally recorded by Black women, namely Memphis Minnie and Dionne Warwick, but whose most famous recordings are by male or white artists.[41][42] The visuals drew inspiration from works by Black feminists such as Julie Dash`s Daughters Of The Dust, Alice Walker`s In Search Of Our Mothers` Gardens, and Toni Morrison`s The Bluest Eye.[43] Other influences for Lemonade include literary work by Black women focusing on themes including African-American folklore (such as Zora Neale Hurston`s Their Eyes Were Watching God) and Afrofuturism (such as Octavia Butler`s Kindred). Beyoncé specifically moves away from her typical music roots to develop a more communal spotlight on artistic hoodoo with other Black female creatives.[44] the[45]

African-American culture
Beyoncé also uses Lemonade as a form of recognition, commemoration and celebration of the culture and history of Black people in the Deep South and in the United States as a whole. The film contains allusions to slavery, such as the House of Slaves` Door of No Return in Senegal and the dungeons of Elmina Castle in Ghana, where slaves were taken before being shipped to the Americas.[46][47] In `Love Drought`, Beyoncé walks with her dancers into the sea, alluding to the Igbo Landing of 1803, where Igbo slaves took control of their slave ship, and rather than submit to slavery, marched into the sea while singing in Igbo, drowning themselves.[48] Beyoncé appears wearing a tignon, in reference to Louisiana`s tignon laws implemented in 1786 that limited African-American women`s dress in order to maintain the state`s racist social hierarchies.[49] The film also contains references to African religion and spirituality, such as Yoruba ori body paint in `Sorry`, allusions to the loa Erzulie Red-Eyes in `Don`t Hurt Yourself`, and Beyoncé`s initiation into the Santería religion and embodiment of the Yoruba orisha Oshun in `Hold Up`.[34][50] Allusions to New Orleans culture include `Queen of Creole cuisine` Leah Chase, the Edna Karr Marching Band, jazz funerals, Mardi Gras Indians and the Superdome.[51]

Beyoncé is seen with other Black women on plantations in Lemonade. In the `Formation` video, the walls of the plantation houses are covered with French Renaissance-style portraits of Black subjects; director Melina Matsoukas states that `films about slavery traditionally feature white people in these roles of power and position. I wanted to turn those images on their head.`[28] Towards the end of Lemonade, Beyoncé and several Black women are on a plantation, with Chris Kelly for Fact writing `Instead of an antebellum memory, these scenes portray a dream: the fantasy of an all-Black, matriarchal utopia when women dress up, prepare meals, take photographs and perform shows, not for a master but for themselves.`[51] Throughout the film, Beyoncé can be seen in Fort Macomb, a Confederate States Army stronghold that was taken over by one of the first all-Black Union Army units – the 1st Louisiana Native Guard – and eventually destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.[52] On the central track `Daddy Lessons`, Beyoncé is seen standing in a hideaway in the fort, alluding to the Underground Railroad.[51] However, on the closer `All Night`, Beyoncé is seen above ground, walking on top of the ruins of the fort in an antebellum-style dress made in West African material, possibly inspired by artist Yinka Shonibare who is known for reappropriating `European import — the cloth — to remake symbols of European cultural dominance in the spirit of Africa`.[53]

On `Don`t Hurt Yourself`, Beyoncé samples Led Zeppelin`s `When the Levee Breaks`. However, the classic rock song was originally written by black Delta blues artists Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, with the song referring to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which displaced hundreds of thousands of African Americans.[54] With the sample, Beyoncé reappropriates the song that was written by Black people about black history.[55] In general, Beyoncé also reappropriates genres that were influenced by African Americans that are now seen as predominantly white genres on Lemonade, such as rock in `Don`t Hurt Yourself` and country in `Daddy Lessons`.[56]

Music and lyrics
Lemonade features musicians Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, and bassist Marcus Miller, and sampling from folk music collectors[57] John Lomax, Sr. and his son Alan Lomax on `Freedom`. Beyoncé and her team reference the musical memories of all those periods,[57] including a brass band, stomping blues rock, ultraslow avant-R&B, preaching, a prison song (both collected by John and Alan Lomax), and the sound of the 1960s fuzz-tone guitar psychedelia (sampling the Puerto Rican band Kaleidoscope).[58] The Washington Post called the album a `surprisingly furious song cycle about infidelity and revenge`.[59] The Chicago Tribune described it as not just a mere grab for popular music dominance, rather it is a retrospective that allows the listener to explore Beyoncé`s personal circumstances, with musical tones from the southern United States, a harkening back towards her formative years spent in Texas.[60] AllMusic wrote that Beyoncé `delights in her Blackness, femininity, and Southern origin with supreme wordplay.`[61]

According to The A.V. Club, the tracks `encompass and interpolate the entire continuum of R&B, rock, soul, hip hop, pop, and blues`, accomplished by a deft precision `blurring eras and references with determined impunity.`[62] The Guardian and Entertainment Weekly both noted that the album touches on country,[63][64] and Entertainment Weekly noticed the use of avant-garde musical elements. Consequence of Sound wrote that the genres span `from gospel to rock to R&B to trap`;[65] On the album, Isaac Hayes and Andy Williams are among the sampled artists.[63] PopMatters noticed how the album was nuanced in its theme of anger and betrayal with vast swathes of the album bathed in political context; however, it is still a pop album at its essence with darker and praiseworthy tones.[66] In 2020, Marc Hogan from Pitchfork considered Lemonade among the great art pop albums of the last 20 years to `have filled the void of full-length statements with both artistic seriousness and mass appeal that was formerly largely occupied by [rock] guitar bands`.[1]

Title and artwork
There are two suggested inspirations for the title. The song `Freedom` includes at its end an audio recording of Hattie White, grandmother of Beyoncé`s husband Jay-Z`s, telling a crowd at her ninetieth birthday party in December 2015: `I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade`, referencing the proverb `when life gives you lemons, make lemonade` that encourages turning sourness and difficulty to something positive. Beyoncé also draws a connection to her own grandmother, Agnez Deréon, using her lemonade recipe that was passed down through the generations as a metaphor for the mechanisms for healing passed through generations.[32]

The cover artwork for Lemonade is from the music video shot for `Don`t Hurt Yourself` and features Beyoncé wearing cornrows and a fur coat, leaning against a Chevrolet Suburban and covering her face with her arm.[67] In 2023, Joe Lynch of Billboard ranked it the 99th best album cover of all time.[68]

Standard edition[361][362]
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. `Pray You Catch Me`
Kevin GarrettBeyoncéJames Blake
GarrettBeyoncéJeremy McDonald
3:16
2. `Hold Up`
Thomas Wesley PentzEzra KoenigBeyoncéEmile HaynieJoshua TillmanUzoechi EmenikeSean RhodenDoc PomusMort SchumanDeAndre WayAntonio RandolphKelvin McConnellBrian ChaseKaren OrzolekNick Zinner
DiploBeyoncéEzra Koenig
3:41
3. `Don`t Hurt Yourself` (featuring Jack White)
Jack WhiteBeyoncéDiana GordonJames PageRobert PlantJohn Paul JonesJohn Bonham
WhiteBeyoncéDerek Dixie[b]
3:53
4. `Sorry`
GordonRhodenBeyoncé
MeLo-XBeyoncéGordonHit-Boy[b]HazeBanga[b]Stuart White[c]
3:52
5. `6 Inch` (featuring the Weeknd)
Abel TesfayeBeyoncéDanny SchofieldBen DiehlTerius NashAhmad BalsheBootsDave PortnerNoah LennoxBrian WeitzBurt BacharachHal David
DannyBoyStylesBen BillionsBeyoncéBootsDixie[c]
4:20
6. `Daddy Lessons`
GordonBeyoncéKevin CossomAlex Delicata
BeyoncéDixie[b]Delicata[b]
4:48
7. `Love Drought`
Mike DeanIngrid BurleyBeyoncé
DeanBeyoncé
3:57
8. `Sandcastles`
Vincent Berry IIBeyoncéMalik YusefMidian Mathers
BeyoncéBerry II
3:02
9. `Forward` (featuring James Blake)
BlakeBeyoncé
BlakeBeyoncé
1:19
10. `Freedom` (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
Jonathan CofferBeyoncéCarla WilliamsArrow BenjaminKendrick DuckworthFrank TiradoAlan LomaxJohn Lomax, Sr.
Jonny CofferBeyoncéJust Blaze
4:49
11. `All Night`
PentzBeyoncéHenry AllenIlsey JuberTheron ThomasTimothy ThomasAkil KingJaramye DanielsAndré BenjaminPatrick BrownAntwan Patton
DiploBeyoncéHenry[b]
5:22
12. `Formation`
Michael L. Williams IIKhalif BrownAsheton HoganBeyoncé
Mike Will Made-ItBeyoncéPluss[b]
3:26
Total length: 45:45


Sample credits
`Hold Up`
contains elements of `Can`t Get Used to Losing You`, performed by Andy Williams, written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman
embodies portions of `Turn My Swag On`, performed by Soulja Boy, written by DeAndre Way, Antonio Randolph and Kelvin McConnell
contains elements of `Maps`, performed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, written by Brian Chase, Karen Orzolek and Nick Zinner.
`Don`t Hurt Yourself`
features samples from `When the Levee Breaks`, performed by Led Zeppelin, written by James Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham.
`6 Inch`
embodies portions of `My Girls`, performed by Animal Collective, written by Dave Portner, Noah Lennox and Brian Weitz
contains samples from `Walk On By`, performed by Isaac Hayes, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
`Freedom`
contains a sample of `Let Me Try`, performed by Kaleidoscope, written by Frank Tirado
contains a sample of `Collection Speech/Unidentified Lining Hymn`, performed by Reverend R.C. Crenshaw, recorded by Alan Lomax
contains a sample of `Stewball`, performed by Prisoner `22` at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, recorded by Alan Lomax and John Lomax, Sr.
`All Night`
contains elements of `SpottieOttieDopaliscious`, performed by OutKast, written by André Benjamin, Antwan Patton and Patrick Brown.
`Sorry (original demo)`
interpolates `Young, Wild & Free`, as performed by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa featuring Bruno Mars.
Lemonade
contains a sample of `The Court of the Crimson King`, performed by King Crimson, written by Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield.
Personnel
Credits from the album`s liner notes,[361] Beyoncé`s official website,[362] and Spotify[365]

Musicians
Beyoncé – vocals (all tracks)
Jack White – vocals & bass guitar (track 3)
The Weeknd – vocals (track 5)
James Blake – vocals & piano (track 9); Jupiter bass (track 1)
Kendrick Lamar – vocals (track 10)
MeLo-X – background vocals (track 2)
Ruby Amanfu – background vocals (track 3)
Chrissy Collins – background vocals (track 4)
Belly – additional vocals (track 5)
Arrow Benjamin – background vocals (track 10)
Diplo – background vocals (track 11); drum programming (tracks 2, 11)
King Henry – background vocals, drum programming & guitar (track 11)
Jr Blender – drum programming & guitar (track 2)
Derek Dixie – drum programming (tracks 3, 6, 11); additional instrumentation (track 5, 11); drums & band session leading (track 6); horns arrangement (tracks 11, 12)
Mike Dean – drum programming & keyboards (track 7)
Patrick Keeler – drums (track 3)
Jon Brion – string arrangements (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Eric Gorfain – strings & orchestrations (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Daphne Chen – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Charlie Bisharat – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Josefina Vergara – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Songa Lee – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Marisa Kuney – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Neel Hammond – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Susan Chatman – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Katie Sloan – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Amy Wickman – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Lisa Dondlinger – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Terry Glenny – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Ina Veli – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Gina Kronstadt – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Yelena Yegoryan – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Radu Pieptea – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Crystal Alforque – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Serena McKinney – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Leah Katz – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Alma Fernandez – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Rodney Wirtz – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Briana Bandy – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Anna Bulbrook – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Grace Park – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Richard Dodd – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
John Krovoza – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Ira Glansbeek – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Vanessa Fairbairn-Smith – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Ginger Murphy – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Adrienne Woods – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Denise Briese – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Ryan Cross – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Geoff Osika – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11)
Fats Kaplan – strings (track 3)
Lindsey Smith-Trestle – strings (track 3)
Mark Watrous – strings & Hammond organ (track 3)
Randolph Ellis – horns (tracks 6, 11)
Peter Ortega – horns (tracks 6, 11)
Christopher Gray – horns (tracks 6, 11)
Richard Lucchese – horns (tracks 6, 11)
Patrick Williams – harmonica (track 6)
Eric Walls – guitar (track 6)
Courtney Leonard – bass (track 6)
Marcus Miller – bass (tracks 10, 11)
Jack Chambazyan – synths (track 8)
Boots – synth arrangement (track 8); additional programming (track 10)
B. Carr – additional programming (track 4)
Too Many Zooz – additional instrumentation (track 6)
Myles William – additional programming (track 10)
Matt Doe – trumpet (track 12)
Swae Lee – ad-libs (track 12)
Big Freedia – additional background ad-libs (track 12)
Kevin Garrett – piano (track 1)
Vincent Berry II – piano (track 8)
Canei Finch – additional piano (track 10)
Technical
Beyoncé – vocal production (all tracks); executive production
Greg Koller – string engineering (tracks 1, 3, 11); keyboard engineering (tracks 1, 11); bass engineering (track 11)
Stuart White – recording & engineering (all tracks); mixing (tracks 1–4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13); additional production (track 4)
Vance Powell – recording (track 3)
Joshua V. Smith – recording, additional overdubs & Pro Tools editing recording (track 3)
Ramon Rivas – second engineering (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
Mike Dean – engineering (track 7)
Derek Dixie – assistant recording engineering (track 6)
Eric Caudieux – Pro Tools editing recording (tracks 1, 3, 11); keyboard recording (tracks 1, 11)
Jon Shacter – engineering assistance (track 2)
Lester Mendoza – additional instrumentation recording (track 3); band recording engineering (track 6); horn recording (track 11)
Ed Spear – additional studio assistance (track 3)
Tony Maserati – mixing (tracks 5, 8, 11)
Jaycen Joshua – mixing (track 12)
John Cranfield – assistant recording engineering (track 1, 9, 11), assistant mix engineering (tracks 2–4, 6, 7, 10)
Tyler Scott – assistant mix engineering (tracks 5, 11)
James Krausse – assistant mix engineering (track 5)
Miles Comaskey – assistant mix engineering (track 8)
Arthur Chambazyan – assistant mix engineering (track 12); studio assistance (tracks 1–4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12)
David Nakaji – assistant mix engineering (track 12)
Maddox Chhim – assistant mix engineering (track 12)
Dave Kutch – mastering (all tracks)
Teresa LaBarbera Whites – A&R executive