The album as a whole is an emotional, heart-breaking story of love, cheating and relationship issues, but aside from infidelity references, there is also reference to police brutality, rioting and slavery.
‘Pray You Catch Me’ is the first song on the album and was written and produced by Kevin Garrett. The sound is an eclectic mix of pop and r&b, and the song is a rhythmic slow-jam with a strong piano backing track. The repetition of the words ‘I pray you’ll catch me listening’ define the song, and there are lots of ‘ah’s’ and oh’s which create a melodic sound. The song then leads into a dark space with strong violin-like sounds with no lyrics. Beyonce then ends the song with ‘What are you doing my love?’
‘Hold Up’ is the second track on the album and has an uplifting light-hearted feel to the track with a smooth immersive ambience, but it’s juxtaposed by the heart-wrenching lyrics about jealousy and cheating. The song has a reggae-feel with a strong soulful sound, and throughout the song Beyonce asks rhetorical questions like ‘What’s worse…looking jealous or crazy?’ Beyonce repeats the lyrics ‘ hold up, they don’t love you like I love you, Slow down they don’t love you like a love you, what a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you’. The song is one of those feel-good type songs that you can’t help but sing along to, which is quite ironic when you think of the lyrics that you are humming along to.
‘Sorry’ is the fourth song on the album and has a heavier production to the track. Again, like the second song on the album ‘Hold Up’, Sorry has an up-lifting feel to the song. Sorry is a female empowering song and the lyrics that stand out are ‘Middle fingers up, put them hands high, wave it in his face, tell him boy bye’. Mid-way through the song the track has a trap-like/psychedelic feel to it.
‘6 inch’ is the fifth track on the album and features The Weekend. It is an up-tempo song and is a club-like track. The lyrics say ‘she grind from Monday to Friday, works from Friday to Sunday’, which portrays female empowerment. Beyonce also cleverly displays her vulnerable side as she sings ‘come back …come back…come back’ but also shows her resistance to accepting the situation.
‘Daddy’s lessons’ is the sixth song on the album and has a jazz style feel to it – It is an uptempo beat and has an old-school sound. Beyonce reflects on her up-bringing in Texas and her relationship with her father. She talks about the life lessons that her father taught her with fitting lyrics to the beat, which is heavily made with a guitar and has a real southern country feel.
‘Love drought’ is the seventh song on the album and is very much an r&b type song. The song opens up with ’10 times out of 9 I know you’re lying and 9 times out of 10 I know you’re trying’. Throughout the song Beyonce varies her tempo to portray emotion whilst repeating the phrase ‘you you you and me could stop this love drought’. ‘Sandcastles’ is the eighth song on the album and is an emotional and soulful ballad. The song has raspy notes to it and also has a lot of soft runs throughout with lyrics that displays an indearing willingness to share her pain and experiences.
‘Forward’ is the ninth track on the album and features James Blake, who laces his soft smokey vocals on the track. The backing track is predominantly a piano, but has some more heavily produced sections to the song. The song is the shortest track on the album and only lasts 1 minute and 19 seconds. ‘Future’ is the tenth song on the album and includes a Kendrick Lamar feature. It is an up-beat r&b/ hip hop style track. The vocals are more harsh on this song than others on the album, and has a soulful 70s feel to it. There is also a gospel sound to the instrumental, and ends with clapping noises which sounds like a church audience.
‘All night‘ is the eleventh song on the album and is an r&b soulful song with a heavy electric guitar sounding backing track. The song is a chilled out ‘party of one’ type track. ‘Formation’ is the twelfth and last song on the album and is quite the opposite of ‘All night’ as its more of a club-popin song. It’s an up-tempo track that mixes an array of genres from r&b to hiphop and mellow trap.
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