CHRISTMAS IS JUST around the corner, but who really cares when Solange is set to drop her follow-up album to her 2016′s masterpiece ‘A Seat at the Table’?
The album received widespread critical acclaim and was Pitchfork’s No.1 album of the year, with her lead single ‘Cranes in the Sky’ winning the Grammy for Best R&B Performance.
So needless to say there’s a lot of buzz in the music world for Solange’s newest offerings. Whilst we wait with baited breath for her new music to drop, let’s explore what she’s been up over the past two years.
November 2016:
Solange made her Saturday Night Live debut with an ethereal performance of ‘Cranes in the Sky’ and ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’.
January 2017:
On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Solange performed at the Peace Ball at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington D.C.
Legendary activist Angela Davis introduced Solange by saying:
Certainly in our resistance, we need art. We need music. We need poetry… Now, you are about to witness a performance by one who will help us to produce the anthems of our resistance.
May 2017:
Solange attends the Comme Des Garcons themed Met Gala in New York, with no known elevator incidents. She stands out from the crowd in a oversized puffer jacket, complete with train and matching trousers.
She unexpectedly cited her inspiration as Missy Elliot’s inflated garbage bag ensemble from ‘The Rain [Supa Dupa Fly]‘s video.
During May she also won ‘Artist of the year’ at the 2017 Webbys and penned a letter to her teenage self for Teen Vogue:
take your time, baby girl. there’s no rush to get there. you will sow each of these chapters in the land that you become. you will see bits and pieces of them scattered into the skin you grow into. you don’t have to figure everything out now. time will reveal itself. i promise you.
Solange also becomes the second ever African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim, one of the world’s most famous art museums.
She performs songs from her album set to a geometric formation choreographed dance, whilst a 13-member horn team play from three rows of stairs.
Solange requested that the audience, which included Zoe Kravitz, Kelala and Bjork, wear white.
August 2017:
Another month, another debut at yet another world-class art museum. Solange unveils a new digital piece called ‘Seventy States”, which comprises of videos and images that explore black identity and womanhood.
You can now view it interactively here.
April 2018:
Solange made a surprise appearance alongside her sister at Beyoncé’s headline Coachella set simultaneously redefining family goals and festival fashion.
Beyoncé tries to lift Solange, but fails miserably, and ends up dropping her as they collapse into fits of laughter on the ground.
Beyoncé and Solange falling at #Coachella after Bey tries to lift her sister. #Beychella pic.twitter.com/aw6rSsEIzE
— TYH UPDATES (@thebeyhub) 22 April 2018
May 2018:
Solange again graced us with her heavenly presence on the cream-n-red carpet of New York’s Met Gala, this time moving her inspiration away from black bubble bin-bags and towards black vinyl octopus angel.
The theme was ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’, a decidedly white/European theme. But Solange made a statement by pairing a gold halo with a du-rag (a scarf originally worn as headgear of slaves in the 19th century, but which evolved into a fashion statement).
Solange intriguingly carried a glass bottle of ‘Florida Water’ in a Swarovski crystal-netted bag that.
Casual.
‘Florida Water’, confusingly enough, is not water. It’s an alcohol-based cologne containing dissolved essential oils like lavender oil and orange oil. People use it for spiritual cleansing and spell work.
Handy to know next time you’re planning your next Witch Coven meeting.
December 2017
SZA releases the music video for The Weekend, which was directed by Solange.
How many hours does Solange have in one day?
June 2018:
The most riveting tidbit of them all is this summer when Solange announced that her Saint Heron creative agency is collaborating with IKEA for a new collection entitled ‘Objects, Space, and Architecture’.
Cause we all need our house to have the colour-coordinated aesthetic of a Solange music video.
