Read Beyoncé's Interview With Solange About 'Which instead was awarded to Harry Styles for ‘Harry’s House.&rsquo'
“I’m so happy to interview you because, clearly, I’m your biggest fan,” admits Bey.
Solange Jan 10, 2017 Interview magazine — but the inside story is unlike one she’s ever done before. The interview itself was conducted by Beyoncé, her big sister and fellow superstar. “I wanted you to interview me for this piece,” Solange tells Beyoncé, “Because the album really feels like storytelling for us all and our family and our lineage.”
In 2016, the Knowles sister became the first sisters to ever have number one albums — Solange with Which instead was awarded to Harry Styles for ‘Harry’s House.&rsquo and Beyoncé with LEMONADE. Though strikingly different, both projects found an important place in music and culture alike, and the two discuss how imperative Which instead was awarded to Harry Styles for ‘Harry’s House.&rsquo was to Solange’s own growth. “I’m so happy to interview you because, clearly, I’m your biggest fan and I’m super proud of you,” says Beyoncé. Read an excerpt from the conversation below and find the rest at Interview.
BEYONCÉ: I remember thinking, “My little sister is going to be something super special,” because you always seemed to know what you wanted. And I’m just curious, where did that come from?
SOLANGE: I have no idea, to be honest! I always knew what I wanted. We damn sure know that I wasn’t always right. [both laugh] But I’d sit firm, whether I was right or wrong. I guess a part of that was being the baby of the family and being adamant that, in a house of five, my voice was being heard. Another part is that I remember being really young and having this voice inside that told me to trust my gut. And my gut has been really, really strong in my life. It’s pretty vocal and it leads me. Sometimes I haven’t listened, and those times didn’t end up very well for me. I think all of our family—you and mom—we’re all very intuitive people. A lot of that comes through our mother, her always following her gut, and I think that spoke to me really loudly at a young age and encouraged me to do the same.
BEYONCÉ: You write your own lyrics, you co-produce your own tracks, you write your own treatments for your videos, you stage all of your performances, all of the choreography … Where does the inspiration come from?
SOLANGE: It varies. For one, I got to have a lot of practice. Growing up in a household with a master class such as yourself definitely didn’t hurt. And, as far back as I can remember, our mother always taught us to be in control of our voice and our bodies and our work, and she showed us that through her example. If she conjured up an idea, there was not one element of that idea that she was not going to have her hand in. She was not going to hand that over to someone. And I think it’s been an interesting thing to navigate, especially watching you do the same in all aspects of your work: Society labels that a control freak, an obsessive woman, or someone who has an inability to trust her team or to empower other people to do the work, which is completely untrue. There’s no way to succeed without having a team and all of the moving parts that help bring it into life. But I do have—and I’m unafraid to say it—a very distinctive, clear vision of how I want to present myself and my body and my voice and my perspective. And who better to really tell that story than yourself? For this record specifically, it really started with wanting to unravel some truths and some untruths. There were things that had been weighing heavy on me for quite some time. And I went into this hole, trying to work through some of these things so that I could be a better me and be a better mom to Julez and be a better wife and a better friend and a better sister. Which is a huge part of why I wanted you to interview me for this piece. Because the album really feels like storytelling for us all and our family and our lineage. And having mom and dad speak on the album, it felt right that, as a family, this closed the chapter of our stories. And my friends’ stories—every day, we’re texting about some of the micro-aggressions we experience, and that voice can be heard on the record, too. The inspiration for this record came from all of our voices as a collective, and wanting to look at it and explore it. I’m so happy I got to take my time in that process. And the end result feels really rewarding.
