Solange released her latest album, When I Get Home, on Friday. The singer followed up the release with a conversation about the album, sharing her inspirations and influences.
The latest album from Solange, When I Get Home, has only been out for three days, but it’s clear already that audiences are loving it. The mystical, chill vibes of the album seem to resonate with a generation of listeners who just need to connect to that inner magical feeling inside themselves.
But despite how enchanting and wise the album may come off as to listeners, Solange shared that her inspirations for the album were actually quite practical.
Following the album’s release over the weekend, Solange held screenings of the companion film to When I Get Home on Sunday. That was followed by a behind-the-scenes conversation with art curator Antwaun Sargent about the album, which was live streamed on Apple Music and her BlackPlanet website.
As Pitchfork reports, Solange had a very practical approach to creating When I Get home. And that approach was what ended up being the difference between this album and her former one, A Seat at the Table. She revealed:
"Obviously with A Seat at the Table I had so much to say. With this album I had so much to feel. Words would have been reductive to what I needed to feel and express. It’s in the sonics for me."
Listening to the album even just once, you can really begin to feel the difference that she’s talking about. While A Seat at the Table definitely made you feel where Solange was coming from on an emotional level, When I Get Home kicks it up a notch. And instead, your soul ends up resonating with the words and the sounds that Solange brings forth.
(Great example: “Do you realize how magnificent you are? The god that created you is a divine architect that created the moon, the sun, the stars, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Venus.” — The spoken word excerpt on the album from Alexyss K. Tylor that empowers women on such a spiritual level.)
Solange also added how her hometown of Houston played a big role in the creation process. According to the Pitchfork story, Solange rented a home in Houston to begin working on the album after being away for so long. She said:
"I think after touring the last record, there were a lot of things that were happening to my spirit—things that feel sort of out of control."
This may have been Solange hinting at her autonomic disorder she revealed she had in December 2017. She announced she would have to cancel a gig at South Africa’s AfroPunk festival because of the illness and that she had been treating it five months prior to the cancellation.
In response, it seemed like part of her remedy was just coming back home — a place that is familiar and a place that can heal. Hence, this is likely the reason she titled this work of art When I Get Home.
In an interview with i-D, Solange also spoke on what the importance of coming home has taught her, and how that influenced the album:
"Over the last couple of years I’ve thought a lot about origin. How much we’ve taken with us versus how much we’ve left behind and a lot of that had to do with coming home and working out the answer to that spiritually through and around me. Coming off my last shows performing A Seat at the Table, my body was not responding how I wanted it to, and I think it’s interesting how your body can tell you what you need to do at a present time."
Despite any shortcomings Solange may have faced, the album is a clear reflection of her ability to connect with her inner-self and learn to heal. For the listener, it’s much the same, especially for black women who share the same experiences from Solange’s journey. But in the end, the album celebrates our feelings and our experiences… and it’ll leave you feeling a lot more magical, too.