Lessons Learnt - Solange Lyrics

If you pay very close attention, you will notice that almost every song by Solange seem to provide her audience with a commentary on her experiences and her past. She is so gracefully and unapologetically transparent about issues she's experienced as a black woman encouraging us to dive deeper and take a peak into her life. Through her experiences, we are graced with daily affirmations and some food for thoughts. I will share some of my favourite Solange lyrics that have had an impact on my life and encouraged me to dig deeper.

1. “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…”

Creatively, we are reminded we can’t be the only subject of our creativity. Our creativity expands beyond everything we are fed and used to. In the case of Solange, her creativity expands beyond music, venturing into architecture and design, directing, and even choreography. We must therefore not just focus on ourselves as a subject as we only limit ourselves as artists. To summarise that, self-evolution is a lifelong process and we must not limit ourselves.

2. “Be weary of the ways of the world...”

Solange affirms her weariness of the world around her. This particular lyrics almost felt like a mother telling her children to becareful and to ask all the hard questions and have all the difficult conversations. Living in a time where the world treats Black people and their bodies with no care, respect or love, we must use every opportunity to have these debates and foster change by challenging ourselves and the peeople around us. Part of this is listening to what others have to say, even when you struggle to agree or even understand their point of view.

3. "Well it's like cranes in the sky/ Sometimes I don't wanna feel those metal clouds"

When I think of self care,I think of this lyric. It seeems almost abstract until you think about it in terms of healing. Solange translates the feeleing of rejection as omnipresent and inescapable, looming over her life just like cranes in the sky. The line echoes the feeling of having your whole world feel so heavy that it could crash in on you, but it also illustrates that it is also fine to not immediately need to self repair after a heartache. We must take time to heal.

4. "I'm gonna look for my body yeah/ I'll be back real soon"

In an album about self-empowerment, rediscovering self-value and healing, this singular line from "Weary" sets that tone perfectly. Solange suggests she is setting out to look for her “body,” alluding to trying to find her place in society as a black woman. Being black most of the time means staying hidden in order to survive when out. It means dimming down your lights in an attempt to not sound aggressive, fiesty or dangerous. If you're not weary enough, you take these things home with you. But home is where you're supposed to take these things off and bask in the real you. Judnick Maynard stated in an interview relating to this lyric "You have to remember that the parts that you keep hidden from yourself and the things that keep you up at night are not who you are. They’re done explicitly so that they get you off of the table and you never get back."

5. “Dollars never show up on CP time/ I just wanna wake up on CP time”

Okay okay, this isn't so much a lesson but we loved the shade our dear sis was conveying.

“CP time” or “colored people’s time” refers to a negative stereotype that African-Americans are always tardy to events. Solange reiterates ever so gracefully that she consistently accumulates wealth irrespective of "CP time" and reinforces that her success is not anchored down by derogatory stereotypes of African-Americans.

Let me know of some of your favourite Solange lyric and and why.