Ten Years After Its Release, Solange’s A Seat At The Table Remains A Defining Celebration Of Black Womanhood, Resilience And Artistic Freedom
“Fall in your ways so you can crumble, fall in your ways so you can sleep at night, fall in your ways so you can wake up and rise” so begins the opening track Rise off of Solange Knowle’s groundbreaking album A Seat At The Table.
Released 10 years ago, on September 30th, 2016, the album represents a watershed moment in 2010’s cultural history but also in the life and career of the then-30 year old Texas native and singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress.
The album struck a chord with millions of Black female listeners. Writer Alexis Oatman wrote in Essence that the project gives Black women space for “rage and empowerment” while exploring “not only our pain but the joy in life as well.”
Songs like “Cranes In The Sky” and “Don’t Touch My Hair” personify this. The former won Solange her first Grammy for Best R&B Performance in 2017.
Solange herself expressed gratitude with so many Black women connecting with its themes in a 2016 article for W Magazine. ““I just feel so much joy and gratitude that people have connected to it in this way. The biggest reward that I could ever get is seeing women, especially black women, talk about what this album has done, the solace it has given them.”
Creating Her Own Artistic Identity
To many, Solange was known as the sister of R&B superstar Beyonce. However, she pursued an unconventional path through niche indie soul and R&B projects like 2008’s Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams and 2012’s True. A Seat At The Table was her first full-length album in eight years.
Sonically, the album is very much in the vein of alternative R&B and psychedelic soul, echoing the sensibilities of Minnie Riperton, Aaliyah, Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield. Solange’s airy voice floats over complex sounds alongside mult-layeral harmonious ad-libs. Solange enlisted critically acclaimed producers Pharrell and Raphael Saddiq to help capture her sound.
At the center of the album is unity in Blackness. Throughout the album, Solange curates a tale of resilience through several narrators – her parents Tina and Matthew Knowles and widely celebrated rapper and entrepreneur Master P. While her father speaks about his upbringing in Alabama, her mother offers a message of pride and beauty in Blackness.
A Decade Later, the Album Still Speaks
Ten years later, Solange has continued to make art and ground her themes in Black storytelling. Always someone who was ambivalent to mainstream success, A Seat At The Table represents a rare moment where an artist creates a body of work that connects with the cultural zeitgeist.
For Solange, this album has been named part of the soundtrack of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the same way Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On was part of the soundtrack of the Black Arts movement.
