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"It asks the question how much of ourselves do we bring with us versus leave behind in our evolution. The artist returned to Third Ward Houston to answer this." It's fitting that an album called "When I Get Home" would be dripping with references to Houston, Solange's hometown (she grew up in the city's Third Ward). The track-listing contains several references to Houston streets, landmarks and musical styles. "I'm filled w so much joy right now!!!" Solange wrote on Twitter when she announced the release Thursday night. "I can't thank y'all enough for this moment and for all the feelings i feel in my body! I'm bringing home w me everywhere I go yalll ... Your love lifts me up so high."
While the east coast was struggling to tape their eyelids open, the west coast was basically having lunch break. The award-winning artist is commemorating the 2-year anniversary of her fourth LP with a remastered director's cut of its accompanying art film. Artists and creators are working to restore a depth and richness to music and content that’s felt diminished over the last several years.
Solange Is Creating a Beautiful World
The album has been described as an ode to Houston's hip hop scene, and is narrated by a range of sampled African-American women from its Third Ward, where Solange grew up. 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. 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". On February 27, 2019, Solange released a teaser video on social media, and shared the album's track listing on February 28.
Unfazed by having to follow a landmark album that crowned the Billboard 200, went gold, and yielded a hit that took a Grammy, Solange leisurely detours with When I Get Home. Made in spots as remote as Los Angeles and Jamaica, the follow-up to A Seat at the Table was also recorded in New Orleans and Solange's native Houston. Most pertinent is the last location, referenced repeatedly in expressions of nostalgia, pride, and tranquility, as well as in titular geographic markers.
Breaking Down the Influences and Themes of Solange’s New Album When I Get Home
The lyrics deal with strong feminist themes and a celebration of blackness. I will say, watching Solange evolve while still being the same girl her original fans fell in love with, is fascinating to watch. Because we know the Knowles family never does anything without intention, Solange announced she was dropping her album, When I Get Home at midnight on March 1. By calling the number, fans were able to hear song snippets in anticipation of the full serving.
In addition to Solange’s genres variations within this album, she includes tracks such as “Way to the Show” and “Time ” that showcased her signature R&B and soul elements. The 19-track album not only serves as a way for Knowles to speak on her life experiences, but allows her to bring her listeners along with her on a journey of reflection and tribute. With the variation of musical stylings and song interpretations, listeners will either be in the mood to dance or self-reflect. If you could get past a busy signal, you could hear snippets of the not-yet-released songs. "The album is an exploration of origin," reads a news release announcing the album.
Solange – When I Get Home
Unlike her sister, Beyoncé, who tends to first release her new work exclusively on Tidal, Solange's album was immediately available to stream on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and more. You can reimmerse yourself in Solange’s visual work of art by way of the new director’s cut on Criterion Channel‘s official website. The original When I Get Home art film can also be streamed on Apple Music. The intro to this interlude is a sample of an old YouTube video of Atlanta rappers Diamond and Princess (from Crime Mob, of “Knuck If You Buck” fame) fake-interviewing each other in the back of a car.
It was an immersive community; there are kids walking around right now who owe their existence to BlackPlanet. I can’t thank y’all enough for this moment and for all the feelings I feel in my body! I’m bringing home w me everywhere I go yalll and I ain’t running from shit no more. ” Ahead of droppingWhen I Get Home, the singer kept fans on their toes with endless teasers on social media and the creation of a BlackPlanet page. The lush keyboard chords on ballads like “Time ” and “Dreams” are indebted to jazz, with the latter featuring production from the jazz drummer Jamire Williams.
There are Moog keyboards and springy, ambling basslines reminiscent of ’70s soul. Solange layers her voice and others in cascades of harmony and also employs trap cadences on more upbeat songs. On “Almeda” and “My Skin My Logo,” she recruits the rappers Playboi Carti and Gucci Mane, respectively, who deliver blithe verses. The project, a follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2016 album, A Seat at the Table, plays like a love letter to the rich culture of the black diaspora, looking to both the past and the future for inspiration. This is most apparent in the incredible range of artists she works with, who range from respected industry veterans like Raphael Saadiq and Pharrell Williams to forward-thinking stars of the moment like Standing on the Corner, Earl Sweatshirt and Playboi Carti. But make no mistake about it — this is Solange’s show, from concept to production.
Compared to A Seat at the Table, the balance of which processed anguish and anger, this is lighter and freer, above all else a luxuriant bliss-out. From the early moment where Solange makes like a group of harmonizing, sunlit Janet Jacksons, it sounds custom-made for a basking joy ride that tops out around 20 mph and slows just enough to accommodate get-ons and drop-offs for a variable group of companions including a lover. Some portions sound raw enough to have been generated on the spot, prioritizing feeling over "proper" songs.
The cleverest placement might be the sampled gospel group singing "Please take the wheel forever." In the context of When I Get Home, their devoted appeal takes on a literal meaning while losing none of its redemptive intent. There are people bound to shut the record off and demand to know where the traditional songs are. Hip-hop heads of a certain age will find it scratches the same itch Doom and Madlib’s Madvillainy did. Both albums are offbeat structures made from short, evocative song fragments. Fans of weirder stuff will hear shades of Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, A True Star, itself a woozy, psychedelic tribute to the back end of the Beatles’ Abbey Road, where Lennon and McCartney bounced quick sketches off each other to brilliant effect. The seamless sequencing is also reminiscent of Solange’s Texas-soul elder, Erykah Badu, whose 2000 album Mama’s Gun unfurled as a playlist that didn’t really stop between tracks.
In the three years since her seminal album A Seat at the Table, Solange has broadened her artistic reach, expanding her work to museum installations, unconventional live performances, and striking videos. With her fourth album, When I Get Home, the singer continues to push her vision forward with an exploration of roots and their lifelong influence. In Solange's case, that’s the culturally rich Houston of her childhood.
Released after 1976’s Songs in the Key of Life to accompany a film full of time-lapse photography and suggestions that just maybe flowers have feelings, Plants is the spot in Wonder’s nearly flawless ’70s creative streak that people rarely talk about. Reviews suggested it was difficult or else half-baked, the bridge too far in a decade of innovations; Stevie reined himself in and returned a little under a year later with the crisp, funky Hotter Than July. This isn't a replica of "A Seat at the Table," with direct song titles such as "Don't Touch My Hair" and several interludes of Solange's parents and Master P discussing racism, black pride and self worth. "When I Get Home," with tracks that breeze effortlessly from one to another, has a more cosmic and dreamlike quality, while also nodding to Houston's chopped-and-screwed sound. Solange was expected to release her new album in the fall of 2018, but the year came and went. "There is a lot of jazz at the core," she told the New York Times while she was still finishing the project.
She launched her own page with lyric excerpts and a dossier of new images, both still and moving, that appear to be pieces of a larger visual project. The film accompanies all seventeen tracks in one continuous narrative or visual album with various aspects dedicated to Houston's history including its hip-hop scene, for instance, the chopped and screwed remix style and mixtapes of DJ Screw. The 17th track "Sound of Rain" is accompanied by a surreal, game-world animation akin to Second Life that features original artwork by Satterwhite. The album blends "cosmic" jazz, hip hop, and R&B, and has also been described as psychedelic soul, "new-age trap", and a "drowsy funk throwdown". It is also influenced by chopped and screwed hip hop originating from Solange's home-town of Houston, as well as drum and bass.
Emerging stars such as H.E.R, Daniel Caesar, SZA and Jorja Smith have sounds that reach back to earlier music eras, pull elements of substance and nostalgia, and become a new thing in their art, moving the culture forward. Solange is one of the best at manifesting something completely new out of things that are familiar. She’s created her lane by not actually picking one lane, instead proclaiming that she’s bringing home with her wherever she goes, and we’re happy to follow her to the next destination. Fans spent Tuesday and Wednesday searching for old Hotmail and AOL email addresses and passwords, and looking around the site for the first time in years. The platform never shut down, and still feels very retro, as it’s in the process of being updated, but Solange’s new profile was sleek and modern — and offered a sampling of teaser photos, clips and messages, all fervently shared and reposted. The idea of going back to a safe online space was as enticing as the promise of new Solange content.
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