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Carlota GuerreroSolange‘s “Cranes in the Sky” may be one of 2016’s most memorable songs, but it didn’t come from a very happy place.
In the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast, Solange breaks down the song’, remembering the period in her life that inspired the tune and noting that she’s “so grateful that I’m not in that place.”
Solange explains that the song had its genesis in a collection of instrumental tracks that Rafael Saddiq gave her for a possible collaboration.
“I immediately had this really strong reaction,” Solange remembers of hearing the rhythm track for what would become “Cranes in the Sky.” “I went to my hotel room and wrote the lyrics and the melody. Just immediately coming up with the first four lines that I tried to structure,” sh says.
As explained to her older sister Beyoncé in the February issue of Interview magazine, “Cranes in the Sky” was written during a confusing period in her life, a point Solange amplifed to Song Exploder.
“At the time, I was definitely in a transitional place in my life. I was a new mother, had been with my son’s father since we were 13. And so much of my identity was grounded in our identity. And I also had just moved back home to Houston from Idaho,” she says.
And while Solange credits her past sorrow and heartache for being the inspiration behind some of her best music to date, she is grateful to leave the past and those experiences behind as she looks forward to a bright future.
“Looking back at that girl I feel so, so grateful that I’m not in that place. I can still identify with so many of those moments. They’re still a part of me, but I am not them.
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