Fresh of the high of the Soul Train Awards, Beyonce has more to celebrate. Her album 'Lemonade' that had a surprise release earlier this year after its hour long HBO special, has been named the album of the year by Rolling Stone. Fifty albums are mentioned, and the top ten are as follows:
10. Young Thug, 'Jeffery'
9. Leonard Cohen, 'You Want It Darker'
8. Kanye West, 'The Life of Pablo'
7. Rolling Stones, 'Blue & Lonesome'
6. Radiohead, 'A Moon Shaped Pool'
5. Frank Ocean, 'Blond'
4. Car Seat Headrest, 'Teens of Denial'
3. Chance the Rapper, 'Coloring Book'
2. David Bowie, ''Blackstar'
1. Beyoncé, 'Lemonade'
The Rolling Stone had the following to say about the album of the year:
"Girl, I hear some thunder" – damn, that's putting it mildly. Beyoncé shut everyone else down this year with a soul-on-fire masterpiece, testifying about love, rage and betrayal that felt all too true in the America of 2016. The queen not only made the album of the year (and make no mistake, David Bowie would have been the first to say so), she delivered a confessional, genre-devouring suite that feels larger than life yet still heartbreakingly intimate, because it doubles as her portrait of a nation in flames. She dropped Lemonade as a Saturday-night surprise after her HBO special, moving in on every strain of American music from country ("Daddy Lessons") to blues-metal ("Don't Hurt Yourself") to post-punk-gone-Vegas dancehall ("Hold Up") to feminist hip-hop windshield-smashing ("Sorry"). Even with "All Night" as an ambiguous resolution, it's a whole album of hurt, which is why it especially hit home after the election. Beyoncé speaks on how it feels to get sold out by a lover – or a nation – that fooled you into feeling safe, how it feels to break free of a home built on lies. The question of whether it's singing about Jay Z is moot because, unfortunately, it turned out to be about all of us. But thanks to Bey's sheer fire-breathing musical power, Lemonade was a sign of hope amid all the emotional and political wreckage. Ashes to ashes. Dust to sidechicks. And woe to any fool who tries to interrupt her grinding. R.S.
