Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips
Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips
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Why Solange Matters

Author: Stephanie Phillips

Narrator: Dede Davi

Unabridged: 5 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/02/2022


Synopsis

Growing up in the shadow of her superstar sister, Solange Knowles became a pivotal musician in her own right. Defying an industry that attempted to bend her to its rigid image of a Black woman, Solange continually experimented with her sound and embarked on a metamorphosis in her art that continues to this day.

In Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips chronicles the creative journey of an artist who became a beloved voice for the Black Lives Matter generation. A Black feminist punk musician herself, Phillips addresses not only the unpredictable trajectory of Solange Knowles's career but also how she and other Black women see themselves through the musician's repertoire. First, she traces Solange’s progress through an inflexible industry, charting the artist’s development up to 2016, when the release of her third album, A Seat at the Table, redefined her career.

Then, with A Seat at the Table and 2019’s When I Get Home, Phillips describes how Solange embraced activism, anger, Black womanhood, and intergenerational trauma to inform her remarkable art. Why Solange Matters not only cements the place of its subject in the pantheon of world-changing twenty-first century musicians, it introduces its writer as an important new voice.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Eniola on February 04, 2022

One for music fans, definitely one for all Solange fans. “Why Solange Matters” is a book that takes a deep dive to the impact that the musician has made to popular culture today. From her childhood, music career and creative development, the reader is taken on a journey through a truly analytical l......more

Goodreads review by Jenessa on May 09, 2021

A really beautiful book that skillfully weaves academic and journalistic summary of Solange's career and individual works, while also nodding to the author's own experiences of the key themes of race, punk rebellion and taking up space as a black women in the same alternative music communities that......more

Goodreads review by Malcolm on January 03, 2022

In the vast expanse of popular music, I’ve been aware of Solange (I don’t really fit the expected Solange demographic), mainly through 2016’s A Seat at the Table which I confess sat in my field of vision in two frames. In the first, it was the widely shared, industry/commentariat-driven image of the......more

Goodreads review by Rich on May 12, 2022

For months I put this book off, always choosing something else even though I kept it in my Currently Reading list just to remind myself to read it. Well, the wait was worth it... this book was fantastic reading. It was like having your friend put an album on and say "just listen to this" while letti......more

Goodreads review by Kamali on May 24, 2023

One of my favorites that I’ve read so far. The author was able to tell two biographical stories, her own and Solange’s. If you read this listen to Solange’s music along the way which helped me understand the journey, she’s been on with her self-discovery. Solange Matters......more