Start off Black History Month with Interview Magazine’s February issue featuring Solange, interviewed by Beyoncé.
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The 2016 release of Solange’s latest album, A Seat At The Table, left so many inspired by her thought-provoking conversation about black women in today’s society. The album had this balance of leaving listeners speechless but also left everyone with so many questions.
Those questions can be answered in this interview as Solange and Beyoncé share an open conversation about Solange’s inspirations growing up, the three-year process of putting together the album, and the real meaning of “Cranes in the Sky.”
The interview is a family affair as the all-star sisters talk about growing up in Houston, the texts they get from their mother, and how their father is similar to Master P.
However, some of the most inspirational moments from the interview involve everything outside of being a Knowles and everything about being a woman.
Solange talks about the authority in her voice throughout the album saying, “It was very intentional that I sang as a woman who was very in control, a woman who could have this conversation without yelling and screaming, because I still often feel that when black women try to have these conversations, we are not portrayed as in control, emotionally intact women, capable of having the hard conversations without losing that control.”
This idea is put into visual context as Solange admits to having channeling the Mona Lisa for her album artwork by saying, “I wanted to create an image that invited people to have an up-close and personal experience—and that really spoke to the album title—that communicated, through my eyes and my posture, like, ‘Come and get close. It’s not going to be pretty. It’s not going to be perfect. It’s going to get a little gritty, and it might get a little intense, but it’s a conversation we need to have.’ I wanted to nod to the Mona Lisa and the stateliness, the sternness that that image has.”
Solange also credited Beyoncé for showing her how to be a strong woman and how one of her biggest lessons she learned was from Björk saying, “she felt like, no matter what stage in her career, if a man is credited on something that she’s done, he’s going to get the credit for it. And, unfortunately, that still rings true. It’s something I’ve learned so much about from you, getting to be in control of your own narrative.”
Time after time, there is so much to learn from these fearless siblings; both as artists and as women. To learn more, read the full conversation at Interviewmagazine.com.
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FEATURED IMAGES COURTESY OF INTERVIEW MAGAZINE & SOLANGE KNOWLES.