Catch Me, If You Can.

Entry 10

After Beyonce's Lemonade was released, my life was forever changed.

I know everyone has their own opinions of it and, while I respect everyone's personal views on it and am not trying to change one's feelings about, I feel that we can all take something from it.

Personally, I feel Beyonce is trying to tell us that hard times are always apparent. People are traitors, drama is always around the corner, and the constant negativity we face everyday can really affect our state of being. We can get into ruts, that heavy feeling in our chest, that things could always be better. Even Beyonce's gotta deal with this; let's not forget that she's a human being too.

Lemonade's content really expresses the notion that, while we may have anger, frustration, sadness, or even regret against someone or something, we cannot let it slow us down. We need to take this energy and transform it into this driving force, this influential source of energy, to help us better ourselves as people. Let's face it, we all deal with something. Something that forever plagues our mind, something worth crawling up into a ball and uncontrollably sobbing about. Something that hurts. But the problem is that we are not giving ourselves enough credit. Beyonce is telling us that we in fact do have lemons and that all of us are capable of making lemonade. The catch is this: we need sugar, because no one in their right mind likes sour, bitter lemonade.

Let's look at this from a metaphorical standpoint, perhaps the standpoint Beyonce wants us to use to  view and analyze the title of the album. We as humans would be a pitcher. Just an ordinary pitcher, like one I broke a couple weeks ago (but it's not like anyone knew about that so its like it didn't happen??????), empty and glass and all. As we grow up, we encounter hardships and obstacles, and, in return for overcoming them, we receive lemons. These lemons are their natural sour taste, and it leaves us sour too. I believe that we are naturally bitter people, that it's just the common state of the human psyche, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing (because Realism exists and it's better to be aware than to be ignorant), it is a v e r y challenging mindset to break. I would know, I have a PhD in being bitter and moody. Anyways, we as pitchers are constantly filled with lemons, and, with the incorrect perspective, we question why. Why do we go through difficulties just to receive more sourness? It seems cruel and twist and, well, sour.

But Beyonce gets it. She doesn't see these lemons as a reward, necessarily. She sees them as motivation. Lemons and water is just gross; it needs sugar. What does sugar represent? Happiness. Positivity. Contentment. Bliss. All of the above. Our lives need this sugar and, for like 99% of us earthlings, it doesn't come so naturally. However, it comes from within. Beyonce is telling us that we need sugar, but we need to work for it. And these lemons are the push we need to strive for sugar.

We need to realize that Lemonade is real because Beyonce is real. She deals with hardships too, no one is ever excluded from whatever life throws at us. But, with her career and advantages in the global industry, she has a bigger influence and impact that others with this mindset may have. Thankfully, she's putting good use to it, because Lemonade is the perfect message that we need to find our sugar in life. We are all perfectly able to make our sour lemonade sweet; the drive to find sugar has to come with in.

Lemonade came out at such a crucial time in human history. Growing up in the generation of "Millennials", I see more and more people around me preaching the same thing. We understand that this world is a negative place and that it is hard to stay content and easy on the inside, but we also know that it is most definitely possible. After all, if Beyonce is saying it, it must mean something.

So that's my rant on Lemonade. Be happy, find your sugar in life.

Don't be sour lemonade!