Solange’s new album ‘When I Get Home’ expresses “things that were happening to [her] spirit”.
The 32-year-old singer/songwriter recently dropped her highly-anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2016 LP ‘A Seat at the Table’ and spoke about it at an album event she hosted in her home city of Houston, Texas.
Speaking at the talk, which was live streamed by Apple Music and on her BlackPlanet website, Solange – who is the younger sister of Beyonce – said: “I think after touring the last record, there were a lot of things that were happening to my spirit – things that feel sort of out of control.”
Solange – who worked with the likes of Pharrell and collaborated with musicians including Sampha, Playboi Carti, Gucci Mane, Tyler, the Creator, Metro Boomin and Dev Hynes on the record – explained that her last album was her getting out all of the things she wanted to “say” but this time it was about how she was feeling, which she channeled into the sound of the songs more so than the lyrics.
She said: “Obviously with ‘A Seat at the Table’ I had so much to say. With this album, I had so much to feel. Words would have been reductive to what I needed to feel and express. It’s in the sonics for me.”
Solange – who won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance for ‘Cranes in the Sky’ from ‘A Seat at the Table’ – also revealed that she rented a property in Houston to work on the album in seclusion.
Part of the record sees Solange discuss what it’s like to be a black cowboy and she said their story is something she can relate to. She said: “I knew about a year and a half ago, it would be really really important to me to tell a story about black cowboys. I feel so privileged to meet so many of these cowboys and hear their stories and see them pray before they go in the bull ring and see what they’re willing to do to their bodies for the sake of entertainment, which is something I can relate to.”
Solange took to the Gram and shared moving visuals for one of her latest tracks, that had most of her fans intrigued by what the new album had to offer.
The ‘Losing You’ hitmaker also emphasized how important it was that she produced the record herself as a woman.
She said: “Speaking my truth, it is rather difficult as a producer to be reduced to just the songwriter or just the artist when you spend 18 hours editing one drum sound. We’ve come a long way from that for women, but it’s still got a little way to go – the way we’re able to have that conversation about Rick Rubin but we’re not extending that conversation to others.”