The internet has been going crazy over Solange’s latest album, A Seat at the Table. The album was released last Friday and skyrocketed to number one on the iTunes Album Chart. While Solange hasn’t done much press for the album, she has been sharing her story via her platform on social media and her media outlet Saint Heron.
In a candid conversation between her mom Tina Lawson and Judnick Mayard of Saint Heron, Solange opens up about her family’s history, the process that led to the album’s creation and much more.
Read excerpts from Solange’s conversation with Lawson and Mayard below.
Tina Lawson: How long did it take you to complete the album?
Solange Knowles: I started writing the first song for the album four years ago, which was “Rise.” I wrote and recorded it with just me and the piano, and I actually did that for a couple of the songs on this album. Afterwards, I had a jam session with Questlove and Ray Angry, and we just jammed to the piano track and the melody. I realized at that time that that’s how I wanted to make the album. I just wanted to get musicians in the room and build off of the melodies and chords that I had already been building. I wanted the essence of the music to create naturally and set the tone for the songwriting.
Tina Lawson: Did that moment really establish the musical style and sound that you wanted for this album?
Solange Knowles: It did, but it happened over time. The first era of creating the music was just about me sonically creating and experimenting with sounds that really expressed what I was writing about. Essentially, that went on in different phases. We had that session then I went to Long Island with a different set of musicians and artists, and then went on back to New Orleans with another set of musicians. But, it wasn’t until I went to New Iberia that I started to actually write the album. I edited and built the song structures and wrote all of the lyrics there with just myself and the engineer. We set up a studio in New Iberia to listen to the jams and try to interpret what I wanted to say and sonically how I wanted to communicate that. From there, I took the album to Raphael Saadiq to help me amplify the whole experience and then to my friend Troy to help me just tighten up the whole story. It was kind of a long journey, and, at times, I took long breaks. It was important to work at my own pace and really tune in to what I wanted to achieve.
Tina Lawson: What about Louisiana inspired you for this record?
Solange Knowles: A huge part of me moving to Louisiana was to really have a moment of self-reflection and self-discovery. I’m a strong believer that in order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you came from. I think that I chose New Iberia based on that area being the start of everything within our family’s lineage. I heard stories about your mom and dad, what it was like growing up there and why they eventually left. I felt a strong sense of empowerment learning that they left under the circumstances that they did and that I was able to go back, reclaim that space, and create art and music that reflected their journey.
Judnick Mayard: You’re a Black artist and your music will always be Black music. Your last album, True, was received as a record for more of a different audience. Was there any fear in writing this open and honest album?
Solange Knowles: When I created True, I remember having an intentional goal in wanting to exude joy and provoke happiness. I remember telling my band prior to my shows to bring happiness and give people a moment to escape from their woes. Now, when I look back at the scope of that work versus the scope of this work, I recognize that both records are so political and valid within themselves. I had to learn that activism takes on so many shapes and forms. When I think about Solo Star, my debut album when I was 15, that was during an era when I was that teenager and I connected with rastafarianism, became a vegetarian, and cut off my hair and did the whole thing. I didn’t understand at the time, although there are parts of that that are still very much so apart of me, that it didn’t have to define me. But, through my visuals and through the way that I existed within that space as a 15 year old girl signed to a major label, that was political in itself. My video was all red, black, green and yellow. My visual for “I Decided” from my album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams had images of Malcolm X, Angela Davis and touched on the revolution, and I think that the way that I occupied and took on space during that time was also very radical. I also remember being extremely experimental with my look during that time, and the overwhelming response I would receive from everyone was like, “wow, that girl is kind of weird.” In general, what I was doing wasn’t cool to a lot of people. When I think of True, I wanted my first video to be shot in South Africa and highlight the sapuer culture which proclaims joy amidst all of the hardships there. In some ways, sharing this record doesn’t feel scary to me because I’ve already done so many things that were considered scary for given times of my identity.
Physical copies of A Seat at the Table will be available on November 18. Read the full conversation on Saint Heron.