Solange: The Album to Grow Your Edges Back

Beyonce’s younger sister Solange Knowles, better known as Solange, is a Texan singer, songwriter, and actress. She is best known for her roles in Bring It On: All or Nothing and her studio albums Solo Star and A Seat at the Table.

Last month, Solange released her fourth studio album, When I Get Home, which is a follow up to her 2016 album, A Seat at the Table, which focused on identity, empowerment, independence, grief, and healing. This new album, which blends “cosmic” jazz, hip hop, and R&B, has been described as psychedelic soul, “new-age trap,” and a “drowsy funk throwdown.”

When I Get Home is a love letter to Solange’s hometown of Houston, Texas. In a nod to Houston's hip-hop scene, the album is narrated by various African-American women she grew up with in its Third Ward. The singer also included her influence by ‘chopped and screwed’ genre, a remixing technique that also originated in the Houston hip-hop scene in the early 1990s.

In the album, she references differences feature of Houston. For example, the interlude “S McGregor” refers to S MacGregor Way, a major bypass in the city. In her third track “Down With The Clique,” she references the men and women from Houston who’ve made it big and urges them to never forget their roots. And in her fourth track “Way To The Show,” Solange references the candy paint jobs that are a staple in Huston culture.

“There is a lot of jazz at the core,” says Solange, “but with electronic and hip-hop drum and bass because I want it to bang and make your trunk rattle.”

In writing the album, Solange was inspired by the use of repetition in Stevie Wonder’s The Secret Life of Plants as well as music by Steve Reich, Alice Coltrane, and Sun Ra. That repetition can be most clearly heard on the first track, “Things I Imagined,” which features Solange repeating the title over an electric piano vamp alongside floating synthesizers.

She also noted that the album was more focused on what she had to “feel,” compared to A Seat at the Table’s focus on what she had to “say.”

When I Get Home also includes music features from artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell, Earl Sweatshirt, Steve Lacy, Metro Boomin, Gucci Mane, and Playboi Carti.

The ninth track, titled Almeda, is the first time Solange, The-Dream, and Playboi Carti have ever worked together. The song heavily draws from the roots and traditions of Solange’s Southern black culture.

“Brown liquor, brown liquor
Brown skin, brown face
Brown leather, brown sugar
Brown leaves, brown keys
Brown creepers, brown face
Black skin, black braids
Black waves, black days
Black baes, black things
These are black-owned things
Black faith still can’t be washed away”
— Solange, “Almeda”

“I’m a Witness” is the 19th and final track of When I Get Home. It concludes the album with a prayer-like message from Solange. It provides a powerful, even spiritual, wrap-up to the album.

“Solange is a confident and incredible singer,” says Eastside senior Alayza Ruff. “I feel like she’s really underrated because she’s not like her sister. She has her own creative vision and purpose aimed towards Black people. She’s so sure in herself and her music, and I really wished more people recognized that.”

When I Get Home is available on all streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Youtube, Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon.