Beyoncé’s animosity towards her husband. The song is charged with fury, with the use of explicit language and dark visuals. Predominantly set in an underground garage, Beyoncé is wallowing in deeply supressed emotions that are physically, and musically, exhausting to acknowledge and express. Amid her rage, the song abruptly stops as we hear part of Malcom X’s Who taught you to hate yourself speech: “the most disrespected person is the black woman”. Here, Beyoncé is now highlighting the systemic struggles black women endure in America, and how it is time to reclaim their power. They are strong and robust as autonomous individuals. In this way, Beyoncé is no longer blaming herself for her husband’s infidelity, and ends this chapter by throwing her wedding ring at the camera: ‘If you try this … again, you gon’ lose your wife”.
models. This leads into the penultimate mental state - forgiveness. Sandcastles is an unlikely ballade in an unlikely scenario. She sings of a metaphorical house built my her and her husband, and how through
6 Inch is an ode to hardworking women. “6 inch heels” is a metaphor for power and wealth as Beyoncé now redirects her energy away from her marital affairs, and into her work. She asserts herself as a boss, a powerhouse whose fame and music is a product of her own hard work: “she’s stacking money, money everywhere she goes/ you know, pesos out of Mexico/ …She don’t gotta give it up, she professional.” However, towards the end of the track, Beyoncé once again reveals her vulnerability – she recognises the commitment she made to her husband as she emerges from a burning house in a white lace dress (reminiscent of her own wedding gown). In a cracked voice, accompanied by a single bass drum, Beyoncé whispers “come back”. This signals a major turning point in the album as she shifts from feelings of anger to that of loss and emptiness. Though before she can address her husband’s cheating, she uses the country track Daddy’s Lessons to explore her own father’s infidelity towards her mother. Although Beyoncé is grateful for the strength instilled in her by her father, she condemns his betrayal, and ironically twists his own words against him: “cause when troubles come to town and men like me come around/ oh, my daddy said shoot”. Beyoncé grapples with her complex relationships, calls out the men in her family, and essentially calls for better male role
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turbulent waters and rough storms, the castle “washed away”. She recognises the pain both have suffered in their relationship and how she is willing to forgive: “What is it about you that I can’t erase? / Show me your scars and I won’t walk away”. As oppose to divorcing her husband
