My two cents about the song Freedom on the Lemonade album

I love love love Lemonade, but Freedom has always given me the ick. The visuals are gorgeous. The production is fantastic. Her vocals cannot be touched.

But the lyrics… they're giving absolutely nothing. They're so vague that I genuinely don't know what Beyoncé is breaking free from. Infidelity? Her public image? Society? Earlier in the album's story, she already confronted the truth on "Pray You Catch Me," so "Freedom" feels like a generic empowerment anthem that could've fit any project. Honestly, I don't see how it's thematically different from Formation.

And then there's the ending of the Lemonade narrative, where she forgives him. I have zero issues with complicated relationships, but if your arc ends in forgiveness and reconnection, it doesn't really match the energy of a song called "Freedom." That's not liberation, that's emotional growth inside a relationship. Totally valid, totally normal, but not an anthem about breaking chains.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but in terms of storytelling and emotional honesty, 4:44 actually outdid Lemonade. I still revisit it because it's raw and unpolished in a way Lemonade pretends to be but isn't.

Listening to Freedom, it feels like she's trying to soothe herself more than tell a story. Beyoncé is a perfectionist; everything she does is calculated to the millimeter, and in the album's narrative, the cheating shatters her image of control. Dropping a big heroic anthem in the middle of that doesn't magically make the relationship perfect again. Saying "Freedom" doesn't make the pain disappear; it just glosses it. And while generational trauma absolutely plays a role in the story, cheating isn't 100% systemic or cultural; it's also individual choices. An anthem can't rewrite that. She was chosen over, and that's that.

She wants to be relatable and iconic at the same time, but that tension is precisely why Freedom feels like branding rather than a genuine personal breakthrough. It's trying to sell empowerment while the narrative underneath still hurts.

And if "Freedom" is meant to be a liberation anthem for Black women, I honestly can't tell what liberation it's pointing to. There's no real arc, no specific moment of breaking free, just big language and big production. It feels like the idea of liberation rather than an actual story of it. That's the disconnect for me: the song sounds powerful, but I'm not sure what the power is about.

After listening to Lily Allen's last album, having Freedom as the emotional resolution of an incredible album feels… very brand-forward. Even "Forward," which is literally a transition track (that I love, by the way), felt more honest as a turning point.

And I'm saying all of this as someone who genuinely loves Beyoncé. But whenever she goes political, conceptual, or hyper-intellectual, something in me goes, "Oh no… not this again." It's just not her strongest lane. Choosing such a lane would require vulnerability and honesty. It doesn't feel effortless the way it does for artists who live and breathe that kind of commentary. And yes, that's why she'll never be on Michael Jackson's level for me.

Thank God Kendrick showed up, because he's the only one giving the song any real backbone.