four years of solange's when i get home
today i gave the album a relisten, and here's my favorite things about it
on the first day of women’s history month, i am celebrating the history that was made four years ago with solange’s when i get home.
as a pisces, i thank her endlessly for releasing this during our season. every year, its anniversary just feels right…or maybe that’s because i’m excited for march. either way, i’m convinced that “things i imagined” — the opening track — is a dreamy anthem for water signs, but specifically pisces since the album was released on the first day of march. after all, solange’s zodiac sign is a cancer, so she gets it.
since i’m occasionally a music writer, i sometimes i feel a bit silly while admitting that i’m not the most well-versed when explaining how much a musical body of work means to me. but i’ll try!
with jazz, gospel, chopped and screwed, and psychedelic soul being a sliver of the experimental genres on this album, i appreciate that it was released in 2019 when i was exploring my music taste. similar to a seat at the table, a lot of this project settled with me immediately after my first listen.
"i can't be a singular expression of myself, there's too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many..."
although i can’t get the entire lyrics of “can i hold the mic (interlude)” tattooed on my body, i’ve been meaning to get the phrase “do nothing without intention” somewhere.
i truly do love that the knowles sisters embody houston (texas culture, in general) into their music. there’s something special about existing as a black southerner while being a fan of their work. it’s like a glimmering feeling of appreciating your home and knowing that someone else shares that adoration with you. on when i get home, it’s clear that this entire album is a testament to solange’s hometown, and she allows us to follow her into houston’s third ward.
in an interview with vogue, solange recalled that she returned to houston to “write new music but more than anything just reflect on [her] journey.”
“i think just growing up in texas, it’s such a spirited place. at any given time of day, you can see and experience something that’s so unique and so grounded in our culture here, and i just began to think of all the innovation that has happened here and really want to reflect on those things.”
with the arrival of when i get home came an array of visuals that just felt black as fuck. black cowboys, cornrows, and snakeskin cowgirl boots were embodying the black yeehaw agenda. and as 2019’s black history month ended, here comes solange telling us to wake the fuck up on “almeda” while repeating brown skin, brown face, black skin, and black braids.
i could endlessly talk about why i love every track on this album, but i won’t subject my readers to that. try again next year on the album’s fifth anniversary!
but let’s briefly talk about binz — probably one of my most played songs. and an icon that encouraged me to embrace cp time!
and as if the webcam of a computer wasn’t enough, we also received this infamous video of binz at the tonight show.
she’s so giving! she’s so giving… that she released a director’s cut of the album’s accompanying film for its two-year anniversary in 2021, and i’m going to go watch it. thanks for listening!
in the words of beyonce: when i get home. now!
i listen to this album every DAY
Truly one of the best albums of our time. I love how cohesive the sound and visuals on this and all of her projects are, Solange is a visionary! Thank you for shining your light on it!