Solange | media-criticism

by Jazmyne C. Arnett, '17

B.A., Communication, Media Production & Criticism

Solange, and American R&B singer and songwriter, has not been known to shy away from her support of the black community and her stance on racism in America. In a quite public manner, she let the world know how she felt about Sarah Palin in a series of tweets criticizing Palin for calling First Lady, Michelle Obama a racist.

That, of course, is not the first nor the last time Solange has let her voice be heard.

Because of this, it was not expected for her highly anticipated album to be any different. However, it was also not expected that she would deliver her message with such eloquence. A Seat at the Table is a political message and an ode to black people that explores the different dimensions of intersectionality suffered by the black woman in America as told by Solange through her musical talents and her incredible discernment in fashion.

Furthermore, Solange’s album explores symbolic interactionism from the black perspective, giving a peak into what some may consider a facet of the black experience. Symbol interactionism is, as defined in Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, “the process by which individuals produce meaning through interaction based on socially agreed-upon symbols (Hanson, 2011, p. 442).”

Though Solange does not choose a particular object to give meaning to, as was presented as an example by Hanson, she does use common experiences as a way to communicate feelings and deliver instructions based on the understood meaning of those experiences by the black community.

Solange strategically places interludes throughout the album, all discussing personal experiences of racism and blackness on the part of the speaker. In the album, Solange makes very clear her position and her struggles, but the clearest messages are given through the interludes spoken by other black voices.

One of the most notable speakers who has multiple monologues throughout A Seat at the Table, rapper Master P (Percy Miller), speaks of his motivation to work hard and the reasons for his decisions, making statements such as “What do you think I’m worth if this white man offers me a million dollars? I gotta be worth 40 or 50 [million],” and “If you don’t understand my record then you don’t understand me and this is not for you.” After his monologue, the song FUBU, an acronym meaning “for us by us,” begins. In it, Solange sings, “All my niggas in the whole wide world...this shit is for us” making it clear that she is speaking to her fellow black people. Throughout the song she discusses situations that black bodies may find themselves in and how frustrating it is to experience the everyday microagressions of racism (Johnson, 2016).

These moments are not new to the black body, but often go unnoticed by a white body. Solange makes it blatantly clear that the goal is not to be accepted but to be strong in her black body, and that other black bodies should do the same. However, I believe this to be a defense of the art and the black pride that is so rich in the album.

Hanson (2011) states, “we engage in symbolic interactions in which we continually attempt to arouse in others the feeling we have in ourselves by telling others how we feel (p. 40).” In that the black community can give meaning to the situations throughout the album, a subculture that engages in this area of symbolic interactionism exist.

A Seat at the Table is so significant because it attempts to extend the understanding of these situations to a broader audience. Tina Knowles, a speaker on the album, extends a sort of olive branch to whites who do not understand what it means to be “pro-black.” Knowles, frustrated, explains “because you celebrate black culture does not mean that you don't like white culture or that you putting it down.”

Beyond the scope of the microagressions experienced by both black men and black women, Solange hones in on her experience as a black woman. In the song, Don’t Touch My Hair, Solange connects the feelings of oneness she has with her natural hair and the anger she feels towards those that wish to diminish or appropriate it for their own gain.

She also speaks on her feelings of loneliness and the frustration she has for having to explain why she contains so much anger or seems to be angry. Her lyrics allude to the myth of the angry black woman and attempts to explain from the perspective of a black woman (Collins, 2016).

The visual elements of the album are a facet of her explanation. In multiple scenes she is surrounded by other black women dancing and seated together. This was a method of showing solidarity whilst also attempting to share the beauty that these women see as evident and always present.

The fashion choices are by far an extension of her own individuality. In terms of symbolic interactionism, her pieces serve as a catalyst into the new meaning of art in fashion and what is considered fashion (H, 2016). Outside the realm of her album, Solange has been criticized for her fashion choices. Post the album’s release however, the rhetoric has changed so much that praise has become the foremost thought of her designs.

Solange’s A Seat at the Table offers the public an informed look at not only the “black experience,” but how black bodies feel about such experiences. The album is a comfort and certainly gives permission to black bodies to embrace themselves and allow them to submerge themselves in their blackness. But also, A Seat at the Table is an invitation to nonblack bodies to understand these feelings and create a universal understanding of it means to be black.

“They don’t understand what it means to me or where we chose to go” is a line from the song, Don’t Touch My Hair. Solange recognizes that there is a lack of understanding outside the subculture of blackness and attempts to share that with the rest of the world in order to create a symbolic interaction between black bodies and nonblack bodies, specifically white bodies.

References

Collin Robinson@slangsyllables| September 30, 2016 - 12:15 pm. (2016).

Evaluation: Solange A Seat At The Table. Retrieved December 05, 2016, http://www.stereogum.com/1902251/premature-evaluation-solange-a-seat-at-

table/franchises/premature-evaluation/
H. (2016). Solange Knowles: How her visual album puts the spotlight on race, fashion and

gender. Retrieved December 05, 2016, from https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/solange-knowles-

visual-album-a-seat-at-the-table/
Hanson, R. E. (2011). Mass communication: Living in a media world. Washington, DC: CQ

Press.
Johnston, M. (2016). Review: Solange's 'A Seat at the Table' Walks Softly,

Speaks Radically. Retrieved December 05, 2016, from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/review-solanges-a-seat-at-the- table-walks- softly-speaks-radically-w443183