July 2011

I’m trying to cut down my cursing,” admits Solange Knowles as she sits inside a cabana on the roof of Manhattan’s upper Westside Empire Hotel.

The feisty and outspoken baby sister of global pop superstar Beyonce has garnered somewhat of a reputation for having a sailor's vocab.

The rebellious chick who sucker punched the music industry after releasing 2008’s critically acclaimed Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, a confident mix of ‘60s pop, ‘70’s soul and underground alternative, made her indie queen aspirations known to the public.

As Solange prepares her ‘80s R&B meets new wave dance-rock follow-up, we spoke to the quirky vocalist-songwriter about her thoughts on getting the “weird” tag, why being Beyonce’s sister has its pitfalls, going independent and how recording her new material almost drove her to the brink of insanity.

VIBE: You surprised a lot of people when your 2008 albumSol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was lauded as one of the years most critically acclaimed works. What was your reaction to all of the positive press?

Solange Knowles: I felt really good about it. I felt like I established myself as an artist with the people that I needed to and I weeded out the people that I never intended to have as part of my fanbase.

Being able to tour and actually see and touch the people who are trying to really hear and feel your music is how you actually see what your fanbase is made of. These folks were not just people who wanted a radio song or wanted a particular record just for the catchiness of it. I had the people who were true music lovers; those kinds of fans will grow with me. If I want to do something more adventurous they wont abandon me.

Was there one moment when you knew you were accepted beyond just being Beyonce’s little sister?

I think that moment was when I was five, really [Laughs]. I never had to have this moment of where I felt accepted.

I’ve always felt accepted. There was no big church-bell-ringing moment for me. I’m always finding out more and more about myself and about the people who respect what I do. I can tell you what I really love. When I run into people on the street that tell me they have connected with my music.

You mean the random fan that tells you how “T.O.N.Y.” changed their life?

[Laughs] Well, most people just tell me sincerely, “We love your records. When are you going to put out another one? We have been playing Sol-Angel out.” That’s what I’ve been hearing a lot of now. I also hear, “You don’t get enough respect…you don’t get enough love.” And I always tell those people that I’m getting yourlove. And to me that’s enough. As long as I’m artistically free, my son is able to go to the best schools and financially we are good that’s all that matters.

I think that some people get wrapped up in their own egos. They need to see certain album sales and certain monuments. I was just reading an interview about a really huge artist who I respect and basically a friend of theirs was saying how once they got their first No. 1 it became an addiction. They started to constantly look at the charts; constantly thinking how can I beat that? How can I do that again?

And for me, I’ve never zoned in on that. I think that’s why I am so confident. If I started being a music chart watcher I would probably open up myself and allow myself to be broken down. To me I’m more excited about having that support from the fans and my peers that I respect. Like Ahmir [The Roots’ Questlove] and Q-Tip and Erykah [Badu].

I can only imagine the conversations you have had with Badu. You both seem pretty strong-willed with that I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude.

Well, I just love her. We have conversations mostly about life…about being moms, about being in this industry and raising kids and dealing with relationships.

But on the music tip, the very first time I got a Tweet from her telling me she loves my record was crazy. Jay Electronica put her on to my music; he loves my song “Dancing In The Dark.” It’s moments like that where I get the fulfillment just knowing that the people I’ve grown up admiring are fans of my work. And these are people who culturally and artistically have the same views as me.

Are you ever tempted to put up a middle finger to those fans that said you were just being weird to separate yourself from your sister Beyonce?

I could really care less what Suzie B. fan, who fits a certain profile and only shops at a certain place and only goes to the spots that blogs tell her to go to, thinks.

Those people have never driven me. I wouldn’t take back any of the things I did because I gained the people who I needed to have on my side. The people who don’t understand that don’t have the integrity that I want anyway. I felt really good that my songs were at the Best Of The Year-End lists in places like Pitchfork and Spin. I get my love. It may not be what everyone else’s perception is, but I definitely get respect and I feel really good about that.

You recorded your upcoming album in California. Why?

I’m actually moving to Los Angeles full-time which is a big adventurous thing for me. My son is going to be starting school there, so we have been getting settled in. But I initially chose California because I wanted to record my music somewhere where I was isolated and not distracted. Before that, I was going to record it in Costa Rica, but then some of the producers and artists that I was working with were not going to be able to go there. Me, Juelz and my boyfriend spent an Easter weekend in Santa Barbara and I fell in love with it. The quality of life was just great.

Who are some of the artists you collaborated with on the new project?

Well, the thing about this record is I really call the experience being a part of music commune. There was never this concept of a producer coming in and producing it. Basically, there were five of us who all recorded day and night and slept in this house. We even ate together.

Was this some hippy sh*it?

Yes, it was some hippy shit [Laughs]. There were some crazy moments. One of us would start strumming something on guitar in the morning and I would come in and hear a melody and then someone would lay some drums down to it. Then someone would add some keyboards and someone else would start blowing into a beer bottle. We were experimenting in a very jam session kind of way. We would record our jam sessions, take a break, eat lunch on the lawn and then start the evening by listening to those jam sessions with a clean palette.

Then we would break down the songs and give them structure. We had some really great people who were a part of it. There’s Lightspeed Champion whose real name is Devonté Hynes—he’s incredibly phenomenal. Ironically, I gave him a reference point for what I wanted the record to sound like, which was the S.O.S Band.

That early Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis sound, huh?

Yes! Lightspeed totally flipped out like, “You have no idea! I’ve been studying Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for the last eight months just trying to find anything they created and studying how to get that sound.” Soon as I heard that, I knew we were good to go. There was also Vincent who is a part of the Midnight Juggernaughts who is an Australian disco-electronic band. I wrote the early demos with them.

There’s Kevin Barnes, who is from of Montreal who is quite frankly the most soulful White boy on the planet. We totally bonded over our love of Parliament and Shuggie Otis and Chaka Kahn. And then there’s Tim Anderson, who basically did a bunch of punk, experimental alternative stuff.

And finally there’s a guy by the name of Christopher, who is the most phenomenal drummer ever. He came to us and totally changed the game because for so long I kept thinking that a lot of the sounds I was hearing on a lot of the ‘80s soul-pop stuff was cowbells. But they were vases! He came in and was like, “I need a random flower vase and a couple of beer bottles.” He started playing them and I was like, That’s the damn sound I have been trying to do all this time!

Wow, you sound like your recording experience was pretty intense?

Well, this new album is my baby. I would love for us to do a part two for this interview because there were so many elements and things that happened during the recording process. I’m talking physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Are we talking about mental breakdowns?

There was definitely a little bit of a breakdown involved. I literally gave up my sanity for a while to do this record. To the point to where I started doing it in Santa Barbara and I had to relocate to L.A. because I was losing it.

We literally were waking up in the morning and just making music all day and all night. We left the house maybe three times! It just started to wear on me in so many different ways. I started having these crazy panic attacks. I can say that I totally sacrificed so much mentally, emotionally and financially to get this record the way I wanted it to be. It’s more than an album to me.

It’s a transitional time in my life. This is a dance record, but the lyrics can get pretty dark at times. It brought me closer to my family, my dude and my son. My mom, sister and brother all kept Juelz for a week. Everybody canceled work when I was going through it.

Did B come to you and say, “Um, it’s time for you to get some help?”

[Laughs] She told me she understood the pressure and wear and tear of it all. But to me this is something that only I could understand. It’s very easy to feel like your relationship with music is on a higher level than someone else.

I had that moment where I was like, “I don’t think y’all understand…I’m coming up with ten melodies a day!” [Laughs] It started making me delirious. I think the word is commitment. The older records I did were close to me, but this was a commitment unlike I have been a part of.

What was the experience like of running the entire show since this project was recorded independently?

It was great. I was really proud of myself because I produced on a lot of the songs as well. I played some drums, keys, synths and all kinds of percussion. That was the first time that I actually really set in the producers chair. I am so serious…I really don’t want to be a drama queen [laughs]. But I feel that there are at least six or seven songs we recorded that really shocked me. And there are four in particular in which we really sound like we are in the ‘80s. But we didn’t try to recreate the sound.

We literally applied the techniques of that era. We used all the antique instruments and equipment that we needed to achieve those sounds. But the great thing is we are all young; mostly everyone on the record is under 26. We were all inspired by that new wave experimental music. It’s a whole other level from the Hadley St. Dreams. I knew this go-around what I actually had to do. This time I didn’t have a record label or an A&R.

Were you worried about not having that industry support system?

Absolutely not. If anything I would not have been able to achieve what I did on this record if I was signed to a label. I’m talking about a major or an indie label. I would not have been able to orchestrate things the way that I did. I literally put together the budget. I literally kept control of every dollar spent, of every flight booked. I spent my own money!

So you were more frugal when it came to spending money on this project?

Absolutely. It’s totally different when the money is coming from your savings account and you are watching your savings account just slowly dwindle. It’s an investment just like buying a house or investing in a business. I have to constantly remind myself that this is the most important investment I can make because I would go crazy just watching the money just slowly wash out [laughs]. It makes me sick to my stomach at times. It makes me miss being on a label, but only for two seconds. Right now I’m aiming for an October release.

Were you happy with the way Interscope promoted your last album?

What I’ll say is I had more control than most artists. But having a lot of control and having all the control is worlds apart. [Interscope] did not spend money on the right things to promote me. They didn’t have the knowledge to understand what I was trying to achieve. This sounds a little unreasonable coming from me. But I don’t think they understood this beautiful marketplace that exist and how to reach out to those people. But I don’t play the blame game. They really pushed the project.

The irony is Janelle Monae is getting that kind of out-the-box marketing that you are talking about.

Right. That is so true. I love Janelle. But I think the mistake that was made with Interscope was that they tried to promote me in both lanes. I can understand music fans being confused by seeing me in an Us Weekly closet piece and then seeing me on the cover of Paper Magazine. It’s really hard to scream at the top of your lungs over and over again that I don’t want to do this. At one point it made me look ungrateful. Now I’m past that.

You have to go through those growing pains and come off as a bitch. I’m glad you brought up Janelle. She debuted with the same kind of noise as I did. She had a top-10 record. But no one would ever think of her album as a failure because there is no one to compare it to. I always had to deal with being compared to another artist.

I truly enjoyed Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams...Looking forward to this next release. She has a clear sense of exactly the kind of artist she wants to be and I dig that.

Solange has got it down and I'm ready for the next release. Everyone who I play Sol-Angel for loves it right off the bat!

I really love what she has to say and her attitude. I did like her solo debut song when it was posted on the org years ago but sort of lost track of her. I'll catch up soon cause though Beyonce is still cool, I think Solange is the more creative one.

she is younger and deeper than her sis and she should be selling more cuz she comes from the heart and soul of who she is. she is what beyonce should be and thats a artist with independent soul

cbarnes3121 said:

she is younger and deeper than her sis and she should be selling more cuz she comes from the heart and soul of who she is. she is what beyonce should be and thats a artist with independent soul

I completely agree. I really enjoyed her interview! She seemed so sincere and real. I am glad she is not afraid to be her self artistically and stick to her own vision and not what sells.