Solange Knowles Is Unapologetically Herself As She Releases New Album ‘A Seat At The Table’
Solange Knowles is staying true to her roots in her latest album release. The album, dubbed A Seat at the Table, pays tribute to her parents while touching on the subjects of race, identity, and politics. An article by Time has Knowles describing the album as “a project on identity, empowerment, independence, grief, and healing,” which are all issues Solange has been very vocal about recently.
Knowles released the album early Friday, making it her fourth studio album, according to Saint Heron. Solange, alongside her mother Tina Lawson (formerly Knowles), sat down to discuss the meaning behind the songs and what inspired her to write them with Judnick Mayard of Saint Heron. The interview goes quite in-depth of the emotions and events behind the tracks of Solange’s latest music endeavor.
Mayard states Solange Knowles speaks her personal truth, while giving voice to other women in the face of adversity.
“In speaking her personal truth, Solange has created a meditation not just for herself but for so many seeking safe space, asylum, and peace, for those who seek to maintain their dignity and regality in the face of condescension, lies, aggression, violence and murder.”
Solange discuss how living in Louisiana affected her songwriting, which began four years ago for A Seat at the Table. She goes on to talk about how standing up to inequalities and being raised to be proud of who she is played major roles in the songs for the album. Solange said this album has been a long time coming, and she feels it speaks her truth about her experiences.
“As a writer, you really can only write what reigns true to you at that time. It’s a complex thing to answer because in a sense I feel like this is the album that I was destined to write for a long time.”
Knowles obviously put a lot of time, effort, thought, and love into this new album, which comes across in all of her answers during the interview. She’s not just taking a stand against social and cultural inequalities, but is also raising awareness through her latest music. Solange released a book of poetry along with the album, according to USA Today, which is available on her website. Fans can get a deeper look into Solange’s world on the site that includes all of her music and the digital book for A Seat at the Table.
Knowles shared the beautiful album artwork on her Instagram accounts just days before the album launched. She teams up with the likes of Lil’ Wayne and former Destiny’s Child Kelly Rowland on a few of the tracks titled “Mad” and “I Got So Much Magic, You Can Have It,” respectively. Solange’s album comes under much anticipation and excitement as fans eagerly tried to win a hardcopy of the poetry book, according to the USA Today article. Eighty-six lucky people received a copy prior to the Friday release.
Solange Knowles, the younger sister of Beyonce, has been making headlines recently as she addresses issues of racism following an incident at a concert last month where white concert goers told her she needed to sit down. Since then, Knowles has gone on to write an essay regarding the incident and inequalities in general. But her quest for social justice isn’t the only reason Solange has made news.
In 2014, she was caught on camera physically assaulting her brother-in-law, Jay-Z, on an elevator. While the Knowles family only briefly discussed the elevator drama, it’s safe to say Solange is one woman who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, her family, and her culture.
[Featured Image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]
