Vinyl Copies of Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ Mispressed With Music from Canadian Punk Band

A random mishap has the Beyhive shook.

Beyonce Lemonade
Image via Publicist
Beyonce Lemonade

Beyoncé fans that recently purchased a vinyl copy of the singer’s last album got more than they bargained for this week. After receiving the physical record in the mail and playing it on their turntables, many buyers were shocked to discover that their copy of Lemonade was in fact playing music from a Canadian punk band. According to Columbia Records, the German company that manufactured the vinyl accidentally pressed Beyoncé’s record to include songs from an Ottawa-based group called Zex.

Naturally, word began to spread online with many upset buyers turning to social media to share their disappointment. Columbia representatives eventually responded to the backlash yesterday afternoon and called the printing mishap an honest, if not frustrating mistake. You can read an official statement from the company below.


“Due to human error at the Celebrate Records plant in Germany, which Sony uses to manufacture vinyl, a small amount of the European run of the Beyoncé “Lemonade” vinyl included music from Canadian punk band, ZEX, on Side A. Beyoncé and ZEX were not aware of or responsible for the mispress.  Fans who purchased the vinyl will be refunded and given a replacement copy.   We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”


One group that isn’t at all worried about the botched copy of Lemonade is the band Zex. The punk rockers posted a sly little message on Facebook following the news and jokingly called the record a “Zex and Beyoncé split”. The Ottawa band spoke with Slate on Tuesday and had a few laughs about the entire ordeal. “I think it's a bit funny” guitarist Jo Galipeau told Slate. “It adds to the daily circus that is Zex I mean this is a regular Monday for us. It's always one weird thing after the other.”

There is still no word on just how many Zex-infused records of Lemonade have been shipped. In the meantime, check out some of the playback below via Twitter.

Latest in Music