Solange sets herself apart with new album

Solange Knowles’ third album “A Seat at the Table” is a piece of art. While her previous albums, “Solo Star” and “Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams” were mediocre at best, this most recent album demonstrates Knowles’ ability to combine her melodic voice, R&B and Indie beats and recent cultural issues.

A Seat at the Table has 21 tracks included, eight of which are Interludes. The Interludes include speeches from her mom, Tina, explaining her view of being pro-black, and her dad, Matthew, explaining his experience being a pioneer of integrated schools.

But, the Interludes are not the only features centered on black issues. “Don’t Touch My Hair,” a song explaining the significant role that hair has always played in the black community has quickly become one of the most popular song on the album. With a catchy beat playing in the background, Knowles explains her hair to be “The feels I wear”, making the song relatable to most black women, whose hair is extremely versatile and unique.

Not only do the songs talk about black hair, but the song “Mad” featuring Lil Wayne explains her feelings of anger towards oppressive figures and the reactions she gets from others by being angry. Amidst police brutality and other racial issues being all over the media lately, Mad touches at Knowles’ and Wayne’s opinions. She shuts down people who try to silence her and other people of color for being angry about injustice.
Even with her weighted lyrics put aside, this album is amazing. All of the songs have different vibes associated with them, but each of them share the common theme that can only be described as mellow. Each song makes you want to sit down and relax but get up and dance at the same time.  “Cranes in the Sky”, is slightly upbeat and with the combination of the uplifting lyrics and the rhythm, its difficult to not feel happy and blissful.

Another feature that sets this album apart is the album cover art. Her previous two albums had very colorful and decorative album covers, whereas this album cover is simply a selfie of Knowles with pins in her hair. This simple cover perfectly matches the album and its modest yet incredible songs.

An impressive aspect of both A Seat at the Table and Knowles herself is that most would assume that having Beyonce as a sister would steal her glory, but Beyonce is not even a factor when thinking of Solange because the two simply have different styles. Though both wonderful artists, Beyonce tends to lean more towards Pop whereas Knowles’ unique combination of R&B and Indie set her apart from most artists, including her older sister.

A Seat at the Table is one of many great albums that were released in 2016. Knowles outdid herself with her album and new sound, and hopefully there is more to come of this new Solange in the future.