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Carlota GuerreroSolange is known for candidly speaking her mind on social media and on her Saint Heron website.
In a new W magazine interview with writer-actress Tavi Gevinson, the singer goes even deeper into the themes of racism and black empowerment explored on her newly released album, A Seat at the Table.
“I knew that I wanted to make a song experiencing and communicating the exhaustion, the feeling of being weary and tired energetically drained,” says Solange.
“I knew I wanted to discuss this idea of the ‘angry black woman’ in society, and dissect a conversation that I’ve had one too many times. I knew I had these concepts that I wanted to communicate, but I was resistant to letting them lead the creative process,” she adds.
Solange and Tavi also discuss the trauma that black Americans face on a daily basis, particularly the toll of racism on black minds and bodies, and how it informs her creativity.
“I feel there were a lot of traumas that I had to experience during this creative process, that I didn’t identify as traumas until I realized just how much weight and how many triggers [there are] like constantly seeing the images of young black people lifeless in the street, and how many cries of mothers that you’re constantly hearing on a daily basis,” says Solange, “…just the nuances that you have to navigate through everyday as a black person living in this country. It absolutely has a psychological effect on you.”
Solange’s third studio album, A Seat at the Table, is out now.
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