Making Lemonade from Lemons : Analyzing the Mainstream Discourse of a Pop Music Hit through a Feminist Lens

Abstract: The release of Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album Lemonade was one of the most talked about pop culture moments of the year. The album went on to become the highest-selling album of the year. Aside from commercial acclaim, the album was also successful in generating much talk within various circles about its focus on Black women and its political nature. The album’s release came at the height of increased racial tensions between Blacks and whites in the United States in the aftermath of several highly-publicized deaths of Black men and women around the country. Beyoncé, not previously known for bringing politics into her work, was both criticized and congratulated for the album’s message and its success. The album itself told the story of a woman dealing with the infidelity of her husband, and also drew on the lives and experiences of Black women collectively to tell a story of Black womanhood in the United States. Using Lemonade as a case study, this thesis will use qualitative discourse analysis to critically analyze news articles from the top newspapers by circulation within the United States. This analysis seeks to determine in what ways this album is reflective of the relationship between popular culture and feminism, paying particular attention to postfeminist theory because of the album’s status as a commercial production. In addition, it seeks to uncover how mainstream media discourse approaches the representation of Black women, especially given the historical background of racial discrimination and oppression within the United States. This thesis also endeavors to link together the ideas surrounding postfeminism, and how it links to issues of agency and media power. By intertwining these concepts this research will contribute to the understanding of how media power and agency are central in considerations surrounding feminism and the creation of popular culture texts.