Beyonce Teases Fresh ‘Lemonade,’ Takes Over Times Square
UPDATE (4/23): Ahead of HBO's premiere on April 23, Beyonce took over Times Square in New York City (!!!) on Friday April 22 to promote her mysterious Lemonade project in a very public way — by blasting huge ads and promo clips on almost every digital billboard and Jumbotron in the tourist epicenter!
Sometime between 5PM EST and 6PM EST, more than a dozen screens played host to the artist's massive promo attack... and people were hyped:
UPDATE (4/21): More details on Beyonce's Lemonade have surfaced. According to a schedule released for HBO's programming this upcoming weekend, the project will be an hour long, airing from 9 p.m. EST to 10 p.m. EST. In addition, non-HBO subscribers can rest easy as the airing will actually be part of a newly announced free preview weekend set to run Friday April 22 to Monday April 25.
As Billboard speculates, the hour-long running time of Lemonade "suggests this could be the premiere of Beyonce's much anticipated sixth solo studio album, rather than solely a single as some have thought."
UPDATE (4/18): Bey just supplied a one-minute extended Lemonade trailer — and from explosions to a bat-wielding Bey, this looks like it's gonna be good.
ORIGINAL POST (4/16): After months of speculation by the increasingly prophetic Bey Hive, Beyonce's forthcoming project "Lemonade" has officially been announced via a mysterious twenty second teaser posted to the icon's Instagram on April 16.
"What am I gonna do, love? What am I gonna do?" Bey whispers in the dramatic clip as she rests her head, braided for the gods, against what looks to be a car inside a parking garage. And while there's not much to hear by way of music, a single dark, brooding synth rumbles as the artist begins to slowly lift her face. Suddenly, a black title card flashes on the screen: "Lemonade... A world premiere event."
As the teaser suggests, "Lemonade" will be aired on HBO next Saturday (April 23). On the network's website, the clip is listed under the documentaries section of the site as part of a fleeting pop-up ad.
So... what does it all mean? According to fans, the citrusy-titled video may allude to Beyonce's long-rumored "album film" which is likely set to coincide with her sixth studio album, also rumored to be released before the end of April. Back in February, a Bey Hive fan account tweeted that the artist's music project with Kahlil Joseph — the enigmatic director behind some of hip-hop's most artistic videos, from FKA Twigs to Kendrick Lamar — was coming soon.
Adding fuel to the fire (lemons to the lemonade?), fan soon dug up (plucked?) a trio of previously-inconsequential photos the singer had shared on Instagram last year, photos of lemons in various situations, from being sniffed by Beyonce to serving as a fragrant candle holder. (Also, great DIY idea, Bey!)
With the Formation World Tour just weeks away — it kicks off April 27 in Miami — the time is ripe for fresh music from Queen Bey... and we're thirsty for it.
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