Happy 5th Anniversary to Solange third studio album A Seat At The Table, originally released September 30, 2016.
After four long years from the release of her 2012 extended play release True, Solange Knowles resurfaced with her fourth studio album A Seat At The Table, a sonic and visual manifesto of “identity, empowerment, independence, grief, and healing,” as she described it around the time of its arrival.
For the production process, Solange teamed up with an impressive crop of collaborators including music veterans Raphael Saadiq and The Roots’ leader, Questlove. The record also includes contributions from her family, friends, and rapper/mogul Master P.
Since her first projects, Solange had been experimenting with styles and genres, aiming at broadening her songwriting and musical skills. After spending her early teen years performing as a backup singer and lyricist, she went solo at the age of sixteen, debuting with her first album Solo Star (2002), an R&B record full of big beats and catchy tunes.
In 2008, she returned with Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams. The title was inspired by the location in downtown Houston where the Knowles family patriarch, Mathew, built a recording studio. As a result, Sol-Angel exudes the artist’s fondness for ‘60s soul and funk groups.
The heart-wrenching, critically acclaimed True was then released in 2012, after four years of relative silence. The EP juxtaposes the frustration and pain of a breakup in contrast to the energetic, fast-paced, whimsical funk tunes.
With such an impressive career already firmly established, A Seat At The Table is, however, on an entirely different level, which elevates Solange to her most superlative artistic heights. The album is arguably the artist’s most authentic and candid project. Working as a powerful conversation starter, the twenty-one tracks bring some painful and uncomfortable truths to the surface. Starting from the artist’s description of her struggles as a Black woman in 2016 America, she then situates her storytelling within a broader historical context, spanning centuries of adversity and injustice inflicted upon Black Americans, including her ancestors, grandparents, and parents.
Through musical poems, flowing like a written diary, the singer goes back to her roots to begin her healing process from decades of transgenerational trauma. A Seat At The Table was, hence, not created for mere art’s sake. Rather, the project enabled Solange to tell her story, offering the listener the opportunity to, as she articulated to The Fader in 2016, “pull up a chair, get very close and have these hard, uncomfortable truths be shared.”
It was by sharing her truths that the singer reclaimed the power of Black women, Black music, and art. In combining music and social commentary, the artist becomes part of the long tradition of Black female musicians—such as Janet Jackson, Minnie Riperton, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Betty Davis—who challenged our society openly, advocating for social justice and equality.
A Seat At The Table offers exquisitely authentic storytelling, delivered in the first person by Solange, complemented by interviews with the singer’s family members. “Lyrically, everything that came to me on this record was directly influenced by my personal journey, but also the journey of so many people around me,” she confided to The Fader.
According to the artist, the real power of the album is, indeed, in the connection to her lineage. “I actually wrote the album in a house that was on a sugar plantation, and a lot of my family were actually caners,” she explained to NPR in 2016. “So, there were just a lot a lot of links in that way that really, really empowered me. And it felt great to be there and to have the freedom now to again, just reclaim the space and do it in that way.”
A Seat At The Table showcases impeccable production and sultry, virtuosic instrumental arrangements, serving as the perfect accompaniment to Solange’s narration of her struggles, pain, and healing journey.
The album opens with the introspective “Rise,” expressing the artist’s need to acknowledge her ancestry and honor them. The song, feeling almost like a spiritual cleanser, is a preparation for the forthcoming healing journey.
Beginning with a prominent beat and piano chords, “Weary” is an exploration of Solange’s place in the world as an African American woman. The piece revolves around her acceptance of the “ways of the world,” and when asked “Do you belong?” she replies, “I do, I do.”
The first interlude, “Interlude: The Glory Is In You,” segues on the piano chord progression of “Weary,” and exhibits musical poetry in all its beauty. In the narration, we hear Master P posing a fundamental question: “Where’s the peace?”
The next song, “Cranes In The Sky”, is closely interconnected to the previous interlude, responding to the question “Where’s the peace?” The lyrics were written during a transitional moment of Solange’s life. Despite having moved back to Houston, signing a publishing deal as a songwriter, and doing what she loved every day, she still felt discontent, and heavy.
“Cranes In The Sky” was then based on sparse sketches put together by producer Raphael Saadiq, including bass, drums, and strings. After listening to the sketches, Solange composed the melody and wrote the first lines “I tried to drink it away / I tried to put one in the air/ I tried to dance it away / I tried to change it with hair.” The finished product is a gorgeous blend of layered silky vocals and exquisite hypnotic melodies, putting the listener into a meditative state.
“Interlude: Dad Was Mad” delves into the artist’s family history and experiences with racism. During the interview, Mathew Knowles offers, in a few words, a poignant description of and statement about racism in America, concluding with “I was angry for years / Angry, very angry.”
“Mad” featuring rapper Lil Wayne is a segue to the previous interlude. The track, elaborating and expanding the piano chords and melody of “Dad Was Mad,” with the addition of a leading beat, stakes the artists' claim for their right to be angry. “I got a lot to be mad about,” Solange confesses.
“Don’t You Wait” was inspired by a backlash over comments made by the artist to music critics for not having understood the culture of R&B before writing about the genre. When Solange was later invited to The New York Times podcast, she declined. While speaking on the podcast, the journalist (Jon Caramanica) made a presumptuous suggestion that she ought to “be careful of making these statements because I’d be careful not to bite the hand that feeds me,” referring to her white fans.
Speaking with New York radio station WQXR, Solange asserted that Caramanica’s remarks became the turning point in the transition for the album’s production. “I began to think a lot about that conversation and replaying it, and it haunted me," she told host Helga Davis. "And it haunted my mother to hear someone telling her daughter 'don't bite the hand that feeds you.' And also, the racial subtleties - are not so subtle - of what that encompasses when you say that to a Black woman. Then you connect it by saying 'Do you know who's buying your records?' … I was essentially being told to shut up.”
Eventually, Caramanica’s comments inspired the song “Don’t You Wait” as manifested in lines such as, “Now, I don't want to bite the hand that'll show me the other side / But I didn't want to build the land that has fed you your whole life / Don't you find it funny?”
The next interlude, “Interlude: Tina Taught Me,” summarizes one of the main focal points of A Seat At The Table. The segment is an interview with Mrs. Tina Lawson-Knowles, who perfectly articulates the beauty and pride of being Black and the importance of being pro-black. “It's such beauty in Black people,” she declares. “And it really saddens me / When we're not allowed to express that pride in being Black / And that if you do, then it's considered anti-white / No! You just pro-black, and that's okay / The two don't go together, because you celebrate Black culture / Does not mean that you don't like white culture / Or that you putting it down / It's just taking pride in it, but what's irritating is when somebody says, you know, "They're racist!", "That's reverse racism!"/ Or "They have a Black History Month, but we don't have a White History Month!"/ Well, all we've ever been taught is white history / So, why are you mad at that? Why does that make you angry? / That is to suppress me and to make me not be proud.”
The iconic “Don’t Touch My Hair,” a collaboration with British singer Sampha, addresses one of the numerous aggressions Black women go through on a day-to-day basis: the disrespect and fetishization of black hair. Touching Black women’s hair without permission is a racial microaggression disguised as a compliment. In “Don’t Touch My Hair,” Solange ascribes her hair to her privacy and protected space, ending the song by inquiring, “What you say to me?” as a rejection of all European and patriarchal beauty standards with a single line.
The “Interlude: This Moment,” narrated by Master P, and the next track, “Where Do We Go,” dig deep into the feeling of belonging. The tracks both describe one of the most salient issues African Americans have been facing for years: the gentrification of Black neighborhoods.
“For Us by Us” and “F.U.B.U” focus on another important theme on the album: relevance and connection. Said differently, if you do not understand this project and its importance, then it is not for you. “F.U.B.U,” featuring rappers The Dream and BJ The Chicago Kid, who describe the importance of black allyship and “building” together through solidarity.
The Aaliyah-esque retro-nuanced piano of “Borderline (Ode To Self-Care),” with a touch of style from Q-Tip, articulates the importance and need of self-care.
Next, the “Interlude: I Got So Much Magic, You Can Have it” is a gorgeous vivacious acapella courtesy of Solange, Kelly Rowland, and Nia Andrews, a real celebration of Black women’s beauty and resilience. The segment then shifts into the song “Junie.” The piece, named after Ohio Players lead singer and Parliament-Funkadelic musical director Walter Junie Morrison, encapsulates the best decades of funk music.
The “Interlude: No Limits,” narrated by Master P, is titled after the rapper’s legendary record label. In the segment, he recounts the origins of the name, the motivation, and resilience to start his own company.
The next piece, "Don’t Wish Me Well,” drenched in beautiful, layered vocals, reveals the artist’s progression, growth, and how she is moving on and changing. "They say I changed, but a pity if I stayed the same," Solange reflects.
Particularly interesting are the interlude “Pedestals” and the segueing song “Scales.” In “Pedestals,” Master P is once again the interviewee. The rapper reflects on the Black community’s undeniable resilience, explaining how white people, because of racial biases, are constantly put on pedestals, never having to face the consequences of their actions.
“You know, we're putting people on a pedestal that's just a human like us,” he explains. “You know, I mean, they got more drugs in the rich neighborhoods than they got in the hood. A lot of their kids dying from overdose and things like that, think about it. Black kids have to figure it out! We don't have rehabs to go to. You gotta rehab yourself. But for us, you can't pull the plug on us and tell us it's over. Not me!”
“Scales,” a duet with singer Kelela, praises the beauty and blackness of an unnamed boy and his predecessors.
Closing the spiritual journey is “Interlude: The Chosen Ones,” in which Master P. acknowledges his ancestors who paved the way for him and his contemporaries. At the end of the interlude, he asserts the inherent royalty within African American people, describing them as the “chosen ones.”
With its urgent messages, impeccable production, and skillful songwriting, A Seat At The Table still stands strong in its historical and contemporary relevance. Carefully sequenced and conceptualized to narrate stories of Black pain, joy, and pride, A Seat At The Table needs to be listened to and reflected on from start to finish.
This is Solange’s table, and she is allowing us to have a seat and engage in these difficult but still very much needed conversations. And we, white folks, must listen.
However, as Solange said, if you do not comprehend the magnitude of the project and the value of having these conversations, the album may not be for you.
LISTEN: