Solange Talks Fear, Her Love For Kelis, And Creating ‘When I Get Home’ In New Interview
Solange recently sat down with London’s Grace Wales Bonner for an in-depth interview discussing her fears, her love for fellow singer Kelis, and the process of creating her latest release, When I Get Home for The Face.
During the in-depth interview, Solange said that when she initially began creating her most recent album, When I Get Home, she didn’t have any intentions set for it.
“I started writing these songs out of a need for an expression of fear and uncertainty for many things that were happening in my life. I’d say mainly my health and wellness, but once I surrendered to the peace in the unknown, it really did lead me home. I was going through a personal shift and evolution after years of being afraid of what I would hear if I really silenced myself,” Solange said.
“That thought really crippled me a bunch. I think when I let go of that I knew exactly how the sonic language needed to be translated. I think to what you’ve said, so much of my past work was about having something I felt was really crucial to say, and this time it was truly about having so much to feel. I fear a lot! I can be a really over analytical scary ass. And I felt such a sense of certainty while creating this work. I felt really sure and intuitive. I wasn’t striving for perfection. I really wanted to create a moment in time, a space, a valley, an exercise, and I just feel so appreciative for feeling that freedom.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 06: Solange Knowles attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Solange also talked about how Kelis has helped form her creative lineage.
“Kelis is so important to me in terms of a trajectory of a very special and needed voice in the world,” Solange said. “Someone who seemed to always allow themselves the space to unapologetically evolve, but someone who holds so much important space in the way so many black women were are able to see themselves and understand the value in building a community of people who connect and engage in your work and who celebrate in your evolution, you know.”
BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA – JULY 25: Kelis performs on stage at Splendour In the Grass 2014 on July 25, 2014 in Byron Bay, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Solange also credits other creatives like Debbie Allen, Syreeta Wright, Erykah Badu, and Missy Elliott, Tierra Whack, and Megan Thee Stallion, among others for inspiration.
While creating When I Get Home, the singer-songwriter said that she used many different mediums to assist her with the feel of the album.
“There were so many guides during the process of this album. I really did try to just carve out new ways and new languages to feel all these things,” Solange explained. “I played a lot with repetition as mantra as mantra, and expressing minimalism as a practice…but I guess what’s most important is just like wanting to articulate the feelings of what’s at the core of what I feel when I’m at home in Houston.”
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Solange Knowles attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
“I held Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants and Playboi Carti’s last album real close. I listened to a lot of Steve Reich and Terry Riley,” Solange continued.
During the interview, Solange also shared how she uses Devotional Sound as a sacred space to experience music.
“I really related to it because devotion was really a fundamental part of creating the album. Devotion for self, devotion for joy, devotion for chasing whatever spiritual peaks and valleys you are trying to reach and maintain. For me, that devotion transcends in so many ways,” Solange explained. “Meditation, movement, silence, sonic frequencies, but also just like getting my hair done … making sure the lace isn’t showing [laughs] that kind of devotion to taking care of myself. We deserve to express that devotion to ourselves however it may look for us.”
Glennisha Morgan is a Detroit-bred multimedia journalist and writer. She writes about intersectionality, hip-hop, pop culture, queer issues, race, feminism, and her truth. Follow her on Twitter.
