Tonight in Houston, Solange hosted “album experience” events across Houston for her new album When I Get Home. The event, which streamed live on Apple Music and her BlackPlanet website, began with a screening of the Solange-directed When I Get Home film and ended with a conversation between Solange and writer/art curator Antwaun Sargent.
The new album features contributions from Panda Bear, Blood Orange, Cassie, Earl Sweatshirt, and others. During the conversation, Sargent asked Solange about her process of incorporating collaborators. “Editing is just such a huge part of my process,” she said. “I would say that it’s 80% editing, and for some reason, I just have the discipline for it.”
She also discussed the process of giving collaborators the freedom to create on their own terms before deciding how to incorporate their contributions in the final product. “The best for me is to invite people into the space and say ‘do you.’ It could be six hours before I hear the one ad-lib or the one thing where I think, ‘OK, that is how I can extend this into an expression of what I want to achieve.’”
She emphasized her role as the album’s producer, calling producing “my heart and soul.” “Speaking my truth, it is rather difficult as a producer to be reduced to just the songwriter or just the artist when you spend 18 hours editing one drum sound,” she said. “We’ve come a long way from that for women, but it’s still got a little ways to go—the way we’re able to have that conversation about Rick Rubin but we’re not extending that conversation to others.”
When asked about the process of writing the new album, Solange revealed some musical inspirations she turned to at the time, including Stevie Wonder (and specifically his album The Secret Life of Plants), Steve Reich, Alice Coltrane, and Sun Ra—music that emphasized repetition.
She also discussed the difference between When I Get Home and her previous album, 2016’s A Seat at the Table. “Obviously with A Seat at the Table I had so much to say,” she said. “With this album I had so much to feel. Words would have been reductive to what I needed to feel and express. It’s in the sonics for me.”
At the beginning of the talk, Solange revealed that she quietly rented a house in Houston to begin work on new music. “I think after touring the last record, there were a lot of things that were happening to my spirit—things that feel sort of out of control,” she said.
Later, she discussed Texas’ influence on the When I Get Home film. “I knew about a year and a half ago, it would be really really important to me to tell a story about black cowboys.” She added, “I feel so privileged to meet so many of these cowboys and hear their stories and see them pray before they go in the bull ring and see what they’re willing to do to their bodies for the sake of entertainment, which is something I can relate to.”
She finished by addressing the feeling of being home in Houston for the album’s rollout. “It’s just joy everywhere,” she said. “It just feels good. That’s what home does for you. I could be anywhere in the world, but nothing is gonna make me feel like this place does.”
Read “5 Takeaways From Solange’s New Album, When I Get Home” over on the Pitch.
This article was originally published on March 3 at 11:23 a.m. Eastern. It was last updated on March 3 at 10:10 p.m. Eastern.
