Solange is both stoked and soaked.
For, showers of praise have greeted her upon the release of her third studio album ‘A Seat At The Table.’
Unleashed this week, the project presently sits at #1 on US iTunes. It has also been hailed as “art” and a timely mirror to the current political and racial climate in the US.
The latter themes have seen some draw lines of comparison between the album and ‘Lemonade’ by her sister Beyonce.
Speaking in a new interview, Solo addressed this is in a tasteful and depthy way.
Her words await below…
Via Fader:
Do you see A Seat at the Table and your sister’s album, LEMONADE, as companion records in any specific way?
“We have the same mother and the same father. We grew up in the same household, and so we had and heard the same conversations. One of the joys in your mom being an Instagram star is that people are, I think, starting to understand the environment that we grew up in. Through her voice and organizing, and her really being an advocate for black equality — and obviously through the intro of “Don’t Touch My Hair” — people are a little clearer in terms of the upbringing that we had and us having these very politically-charged, socially-charged conversations on a daily basis. It shouldn’t be surprising that two people who grew up in the same household with the same parents who are very, very aware — just like everyone else is — of all of the inequalities and the pain and suffering of our people right now, would create art that reflects that.
I’m really proud of my sister and I’m really proud of her record and her work and I’ve always been. As far as I’m concerned, she’s always been an activist from the beginning of her career and she’s always been very, very black. My sister has always been a voice for black people and black empowerment. And I give so much of that credit to my parents. My dad had a really, really, really hell of a tough time growing up. He integrated both his junior high school and his elementary school, and he also decided in the midst of that — outside of them spitting on him and hosing him down and tasering him and all of the horrific things that he went through — that he was still going to stand for equality. He participated in sit-ins, he marched, he was hosed down. He was a part of the Civil Rights movement. And I don’t think that there’s any way for your parents to go through of all that, and you not have a certain level of sensitivity and consciousness to what’s happening around you and wanting to use your voice to reflect that.”
And you have it.