Lemonade

"Lemonade" (stylized as "LEMONADE") is a song performed by SOPHIE. It serves as the third track from SOPHIE's debut compilation album, PRODUCT.

Background
Released as a single on August 4th, 2014 by Numbers, LEMONADE is arguably one of the best-known songs in the mainstream by SOPHIE, meeting mass reception after its release. Flanked by bubblegum-pop and industrial samples and pulled together with Nabihah Iqbal’s voice pitched cartoon-ishly high, LEMONADE found itself at the end of polarized reviews- which is perhaps apt for a song with such polarized elements.

Critical Reception
Upon release, "LEMONADE" became one of the year's most polarizing singles among critics. In a positive review, Resident Advisor stated that "this twisted little banger is bound to turn many listeners off—among its parts are high-pitched vocals barking out phrases like 'ca-ca-candy boys' and synths that fizz like pop rocks." AllMusic noted that "both songs schizophrenically flitted between bubblegum pop hooks and more aggressive elements, and both became huge critical successes."

Both tracks appeared on the Billboard Twitter Real-Time charts. "Lemonade" and "Hard" placed 68th and 91st respectively on the 2014 Pazz & Jop critics poll. "Lemonade" was included in the top ten of year-end singles lists by The Washington Post, Resident Advisor, and Complex; "Hard" was included in the top ten on lists by Dazed and Dummy. Pitchfork ranked "Lemonade"/"Hard" at 21 on its list of the best songs of 2014.

In 2018,  NPR  ranked this as the #98 greatest song by a female or nonbinary artist in the 21st century, saying: "In her early work, SOPHIE shirked the expectation that women (especially trans women) use lyrics as a vehicle for self-exposition. Like her breakthrough single ‘Bipp,’ ‘Lemonade’ told its story primarily through texture: the ASMR pop of synthesized bubbles; the wobble of detuned bass; the high, serrated whine of a treble patch; the laminated edge of a pitch-shifted voice. ‘I’ll get that thirsty feeling/And I want lemonade,’ goes the quasi-surrealist chorus, refusing to make logical sense but reeling with the thrill of pop abandon."

Popularity
LEMONADE was also brought to the mainstream stage through a 2015 McDonald’s advertisement. McDonald used this song to promotion a strawberry-flavored lemonade, and they used the song because it was lyrically appropriate.

Trivia

 * This song was sampled on Shawn Wasabi's song Marble Soda.
 * In reference to the phrase “eye candy”, meaning the boy is beautiful, but otherwise useless.