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songs... Unpeeled by Brianna nykohl
1. Pray you catch me- My relationship to this song is married with no chance of divorce. This ballad is powerful because we have all known something about someone and you were hoping they knew you knew so that they would change but you just couldn’t bring yourself to tell them that you knew. Beyoncé is basically recognizing infidelity in her marriage, as she sings: “You can taste the dishonesty/it’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier/ but even that’s a test, constantly aware of it all.” She literally told this man, I see everything you’re doing and I find it a bit disrespectful that you would play me dumb as if I can’t see what’s going on. She admits that she’s been snooping and prays that he catches her so that he will know that she knows.
2. Hold Up- For me, Hold Up is the baby cousin that was married into the family of Ring the Alarm, Beyoncé is clearly pissed but is gracefully skipping down the street and knocking out windows of cars accompanied by of a simple yet sweet reggae beat. This girl even went to the extent to tell her man to imagine if you never became who you are, do you really think they’d still be f**king with you. They only love you because I have you pretty much.
3. Don’t hurt yourself- Before I say anything about this song I just want to say that I wish Prince got a chance to hear it because its heavily influenced by him! Now this is Ring the Alarms little sister, Bey is confused here, her man obviously has her mixed up with somebody because she had to ask him “Who the **ck do you think I is? /You aint married to no average B*tch boy.’ Why would you put yourself in a position to hurt me because really you’re only hurting yourself?
4. Sorry- MY FAVORITE. Often times, for reasons unknown, long after a relationship is over and we are done with these niggas, they think that we’re thinking about them 24/7. Some cases it’s true, some false. Men often like to flatter themselves and most times feel entitled so, Sorry is a dagger to their self-esteem because you’re constantly reminding them and yourself you aren’t worried about them. They hate to see that. As Bey said “Now you wanna say you’re sorry, now you wanna call me crying” because you know you messed up and now I’m over you and moving on with my life and you think that I’m going to press rewind just so you can go back to your old ways and treat me like trash again? Hmmm, no thank you.
5. 6 inch- I feel the message from this song is she’s tired of focusing on her marriage so she puts her focus on her work “Stacking money money, everywhere she goes” Maybe she wanted to prepare herself just in case her marriage actually did fall apart, although she’s already rich and she doesn’t need your money. But aside from hidden messages in the song it’s a nice little seated twerk song, its sexy and self-empowering in my opinion.
6. Daddy Lessons- Just a little history lesson for all the ignorant folks sitting in the back row, like most things, Country music originated from Black people so y’all can stop with the nonsense. Moving forward in this song, she reveals that her father warned her about men like himself, cheaters that is. Many women often end up with men who are just like their fathers, depending on your dad that could be a great thing orrrrr a not so great thing. In Beyoncé case, I wouldn’t want to end up with a man like my father after I’ve seen the pain that he put my mother through and the poor example he set for his daughters but that doesn’t take away from the father that he has been to her and the things he has taught her. In this video (and pretty much throughout Lemonade), Beyoncé silenced A LOT of rumors and in Daddy Lessons she shared a video of Mathew and Blue playing because it was said that he has never met her but by the looks of it she seems to have a relationship with her grandfather which is always beautiful.
7. Love Drought- ANOTHER FAVORITE. This song is more dreamy and doesn’t really command your attention. However, this is the first song where the album starts to take a turn for the better. By better I mean it looks like reconciliation is possible and before one can reconcile, we must both be held responsible for the part that we played…. Sandcastles.
8. Sandcastles- a simple song with a lot of meaning. Here we have Bey, the same Bey from Don’t Hurt Yourself, singing about reconciliation, “although I promised that I couldn’t stay, every promise don’t work out that way.” She realizes she hurt him with her words even though he deserved it because he hurt her with his actions, she still forgives him. There comes a time when you can’t put up with certain things in your relationship and that certain thing is different for everyone. But in this case, I feel as though she realizes that she doesn’t want to start over after 15+ years and she truly loves him so she’s willing to move psat it and move on in their relationship.
9. Forward- FORWARD, how do you move forward after these types of difficulties in your relationship? do we move forward or do we call it quits? Even though the decision of reconciliation has been made there is still a fight in moving forward.
10. Freedom- We needed it. I can’t even put this song in words for a description. But I will leave you with this. “Imma keep running cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.”
11. All night- not every relationship stands the test of time. Everyone doesn’t make it to this level of forgiveness. This song is so beautiful, warm, and breezy. After rebuilding trust it’s time to rekindle the flame, all night. My favorite part is:
They say true love's the greatest weapon
To win the war caused by pain, pain
But every diamond has imperfections
But my love's too pure to watch it chip away
for nothing real can be threatened
True love breathes salvation back into me
With every tear came redemption
And my torturer became a remedy
12. Formation. y'all already know how i feel.