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Songs of the Issue: The Carters: “LOVEHAPPY”

Zach Williamson ’21
Beyoncé and Jay-Z had a whirlwind 2018. A month prior to Beyoncé’s ground-breaking Coachella performance in April, the pair had announced their second joint tour, “On The Run II,” which ran from June to October across fourteen countries, grossing over $250 million.
Following one such show in London, the duo surprise-dropped their first joint album, EVERYTHING IS LOVE, a triumphant declaration and reassurance of the long-lasting relationship between the two superstars. The album is credited to THE CARTERS as a duo. The album is a conclusion to the trilogy begun with Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Jay-Z’s 4:44, both of which saw the couple grappling with Jay-Z’s infidelity and its repercussions.

A standout track from EVERYTHING IS LOVE is its closing, the boisterous “LOVEHAPPY,” on which the duo trades verses about Jay-Z’s cheating scandal. The lyrics speak for themselves, with the two re- counting the process of forgiveness. Beyoncé sings in the song’s hook, “Love is deeper than your pain / And I believe you can change, baby / The ups and downs are worth it / Long way to go, but we’re workin’.”

“LOVEHAPPY” reflects a greater theme of EVERYTHING IS LOVE. Songs such as “Sorry” from Lemonade (“better call Becky with the good hair”) and “Family Feud” from 4:44 (“nobody wins when the family feuds”)
find the Carters at differing stages of acceptance of his infidelity, anger, and contemplation. Respectively, “LOVEHAPPY” sees the couple in a state of, as the title suggests, happiness in love. “LOVEHAPPY” and EVERYTHING IS LOVE serve as a reminder to listeners that marriage and relationships take effort and compromise, but also serve to solidify Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s status as the ultimate power couple. As Jay-Z himself said about the recording of his first album with his wife, the pair “used [their] art almost like a therapy session and [...] started making music together.” The Carter family is no longer divided.
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