--- title: Beyonce Lemonade: Impact description: How Beyonce's Lemonade influenced higher education, businesses, and emoji. canonical: https://time.com/4631309/beyonce-lemonade-impact/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T17:59:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:11.633Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: See the Far-reaching Impact of Beyoncé's Lemonade og:description: From emoji to Red Lobster og:url: https://time.com/4631309/beyonce-lemonade-impact/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Far-reaching Impact of Beyoncé's Lemonade twitter:description: From emoji to Red Lobster twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See the Far-reaching Impact of Beyoncé's _Lemonade_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 9, 2017 5:59 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 9, 2017 5:59 PM UTC Yes, _Lemonade_, [Beyoncé’s](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-beyonce-runner-up/?xid=homepage) [ powerful survival tale](http://time.com/4305890/beyonce-lemonade-album-review/) was a colossal hit—so much so that the high-concept visual album leads this Sunday’s Grammy Awards with nine nominations, including Album of the Year. But beyond shattered records, intense engagement and [passionate analysis](http://time.com/4306316/beyonce-lemonade-black-woman-magic/), _Lemonade_ had a wide-ranging impact: it’s rare that one album breaks through to change the emoji keyboard, land on a Marvel cover and boost businesses riding its wave. Influential in its year and beyond, see all the ways that _Lemonade_ stands out as a cultural phenomenon. ### First Stop: the Lemon Emoji  After Lemonade, emoji took on a new lasting meaning. Courtesy of Twitter _Lemonade_ earned the unusual distinction of altering the language of emoji by permanently redefining a fruit. “Before _Lemonade_, the lemon emoji had no meaning. Since the launch of _Lemonade_, the emoji has taken on a meaning of its own,” a Twitter spokesperson tells TIME. _Lemonade_ was one of the top music stories that drove the conversation online; a recordbreaking two million tweets contained the lemon emoji on Twitter in April. Lemon action on Twitter spiked again when MTV announced _Lemonade_’s VMA nominations, and again during the broadcast when she performed hits from the album, according to Twitter. ### A Superstar Superhero Mashup  This Marvel comic book cover is a tribute to one of Lemonade's most iconic images. (Credit: Joe Quinones/Marvel) _Lemonade_ was so widely recognized that it even hit the [world of superheroes](http://time.com/4649086/marvel-america-beyonce/). Nearly a full year post-“Formation” drop in January, illustrator Joe Quinones revealed that the Marvel comic book cover of _America_, the story of a dimension-hopping queer Latina hero, was an American flag-style tribute to the most iconic image from _Lemonade_. “I realized early on that Gabby \[Chavez\] and I were both Bey fans and knew we had to homage her in the book,” he tells TIME. “America is a comic that is all about representation, feminism and fighting for what’s right. America Chavez hits hard, looks fabulous and makes no apologies along the way. I could think of no better parallel than Beyoncé.” ### Red Lobster Got a Taste  Red Lobster's sales "grew significantly" soon after Lemonade's release. Getty Images _Lemonade_ topped Twitter’s most popular food-related hashtags of the year—but over in real life, Red Lobster got a healthy splash of Lemonade too. Thanks to Beyoncé’s shoutout to the casual dining chain as a reward for good sex in “Formation,” sales “grew significantly” the weekend after the Super Bowl Half-Time show performance, according to Red Lobster. ### A Sales Spike For Warsan Shire  Warsan Shire's moving poetry book - a key Lemonade component - expanded its audience. Courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment Sales for Warsan Shire’s 2011 chapbook _Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth_, which Beyoncé recited throughout the album, also spiked thanks to the powerful dose of publicity. The week before Lemonade dropped, 2014’s Young Poet Laureate of London’s pamphlet sold 78 copies. The week after: 764\. (According to Nielsen, in the nine months pre-_Lemonade_, 3,400 books were scooped up, but since the release, 17,200 copies have been sold.) ### The Hat Was Major  Beyonce performs on stage during The Formation World Tour at the Citi Field in New York City on June 7, 2016 Larry Busacca/ Parkwood Entertainment Fans flooded the custom hat maker behind the “Formation” hat with requests for the statement piece, according to Baron Hats in Burbank C.A. But the sky-high cone, which the company fashioned on 100-year-old machinery for Beyoncé, was impractical and too pricey for the masses, so owner Mark Mejia plans to create a smaller, more affordable version to meet the demand. ### Dropping Knowledge  Dr. Kinitra D. Brooks leads the class discussion on Ashleigh Shackelford’s critique of Beyonce’s Lemonade titled “Bittersweet like me: Lemonade and fat black femme erasure” on November 18, 2016. Courtney Campbell If _Lemonade_ fades, it will be inked permanently on college transcripts. University of Texas at San Antonio professor Dr. Kinitra D. Brooks uses the album as the entire framework for her course “Black Women, Beyoncé & Popular Culture.” Brooks views _Lemonade_ as much deeper than anything the pop star’s done before. “She’s having a conversation about how black women can heal from pain,” Brooks tells TIME. There was a waiting list for the class until Brooks announced how hard it would be. After all, this was no Beyoncé fan club. “Beyoncé’s not saving the world. People shouldn’t look to her as a god. She’s trying to open up a broader dialogue,” Brooks says. “We don’t hold _Lemonade_ up as the perfect document. We interrogate it.” In that questioning spirit, students from various backgrounds learn about West African spiritual practices and the conjuring traditions of the American South the videos featured. ### It Celebrated Hair  Donna Neddo recreated the look from Beyonce’s Lemonade for Halloween on Oct. 31, 2016. Donna Neddo _Lemonade_ gave plenty of airtime to hair, too. After speaking at a natural hair expo in Johannesburg, South Africa, Donna Neddo, 30, of Chicago was so inspired by the pop star’s range of hairstyles, that she recreated the look from “Love Drought” for Halloween. She clipped on a layer of synthetic hair, and sectioned her pigtails into four separate bubbles with tiny black rubber bands. Using white eyeliner, she penciled in the face pattern, and wrapped fabric-covered beaded necklaces around her neck. For Neddo, _Lemonade_‘s visuals resonated in a way the star’s other work hadn’t. “Beyoncé got a lot of negativity for wearing weave. I think with this last album, she showed a lot of hairstyles that black women can wear.” Neddo’s costume is just one example of the hit’s permeating influence. ### A Party With a Rebuilding Theme  Jenny Ly at her Relay for Life Lemons to Lemonade fundraiser event on August 28, 2016. Photo by Randy and Joyce Herbon. For some listeners, _Lemonade_‘s message hit especially close to home—like bride-to-be Jenny Ly, 26, of Long Beach, California. After she broke off her engagement following a five-year relationship, an idea struck her: in the spirit of _Lemonade_’s message, when life serves up lemons, she would “make lemonade.” Instead of canceling her would-be wedding venue, she decided to use it for a fundraiser for American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for her family, friends and cancer survivors. Even though people wanted a wedding, it was still a happy affair. Guests shared survival stories of their own over lemonade-spiked cocktails and a lemonade-themed sheet cake, and the event raised $3,203 for research the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. “I turned a sour situation into a sweet one,” Ly says. “To me, the songs are about how you have the ability to cut bad things off, and that’s exactly what I did.” ### “Formation” Was About Community For This Cop  A portrait of 2nd Liutenant Deuntay Diggs taken on August 16, 2016 at an event where he sang the national anthem. Shannon Howell With “Formation,” Beyoncé raised her voice about [“police brutality and injustice”](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-beyonce-runner-up/?xid=homepage); [protests from cops](http://time.com/4215030/protest-beyonce-super-bowl-new-york-performance/) arguing that some of her songs were [“anti-police”](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/05/09/police-hold-protest-outside-beyoncs-houston-concert/84147414/) followed. But the openly gay deputy sheriff Deuntay Diggs, from Stafford County, Va., got nothing but support from his fellow officers when his “Formation” dances at North Stafford High School went viral. The 31-year-old Beyoncé fan, whose moves [made headlines](http://time.com/4533627/police-officer-beyonce-formation-dance/), tells TIME he feels the anthem’s about getting the community together, which is the very same reason he danced to the song for the students. “She’s not anti-law enforcement. She’s talking about police brutality in law enforcement,” he says of Beyoncé. “There are instances when law enforcement has done things inappropriately, and there’s nothing wrong with addressing these issues. What I’m asking the community to do is not paint with a broad brush. 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