Solange’s 3rd album, A Seat at the Table, is blowing up on the site, so lets use this thread to make sure we get it looking good! This album has some deep themes running through it, so it’s important that we pay attention to all the suggestions and proposed edits we come across to make sure we cover all of our bases. Here are some resources that should be able to help, I’ll add more as I come across them:

http://www.thefader.com/2016/09/30/solange-knowles-a-seat-at-the-table-interview

http://saintheron.com/featured/a-seat-with-us-a-conversation-between-solange-knowles-mrs-tina-lawson-judnick-mayard/

https://mic.com/articles/155548/solange-s-black-new-orleans-has-always-fought-for-a-seat-at-the-table

Album top scholars: @ekans @tickettoannotate @AintNoJigga @streetlights @Theonlydjorkaeff

@r-and-b-genius @pop-genius @genius-editorial-board

Another great resource—Solange and Tina Knowles' conversation about the album on Solange’s site saintheron:

http://saintheron.com/featured/a-seat-with-us-a-conversation-between-solange-knowles-mrs-tina-lawson-judnick-mayard/

@TheScrivener Thank you I was looking for that one but couldn’t find it!

This album is so damn good, it definitely deserves our best!!

There’s this one, too: http://www.wmagazine.com/story/exclusive-solange-knowles-in-conversation-with-tavi-gevinson-about-a-seat-at-the-table

Knowles’s Impact is real

Ok so I touched up “Cranes” to reflect the idea that Solange is talking about dealing with her blackness, not a break-up. Would love some feedback! @Theonlydjorkaeff

https://genius.com/Solange-cranes-in-the-sky-lyrics

After reading through a lot of these interviews, there’s a few more I’ll try to find, I definitely think pushing quotes rather than interpretation is key in annotating the new Solange album. She speaks on so much that instead of trying to figure out on our own, just looking to see what said on each song will be super helpful with going through the tracks, especially “Don’t Touch My Hair.”

@genius-editorial-board this is such an amazing album but what that demands a lot of care when we annotate. cosign @LaurenNostro that quotes from interviews are one of the best approaches here, but also important to seek and give feedback. if you see an annotation you think needs work or want to ask for a help with an annotation, post it in this thread!

https://genius.com/10538864

This feels problematic to me.

agree @JohnGanz – can you explain why a bit just so everyone can learn from it/think about it?

@Souldier77 @KierraLeone see the note above.

The second half is great—the first half is weird to me, because a) it’s not really what’s being said in the lyrics and b) it’s essentialist and exoticizing. In a song that’s about recognition of human dignity that seems important to avoid.

@JohnGanz @TheScrivener Are you asking me to explain just the annotation? Or the microaggressions that inform the song itself? Or the recurring concept of Black girl magic?

@Souldier77 the issue is that the annotations makes pretty sweeping generalizations so it does what the song itself actually speaks out against. A better approach for this annotation and most on this album would be to use quotes from Solange herself or authors who’ve written about the topic. There are a bunch of good links in this thread.

It’s also important to keep this in mind with any other accepting/editing on this album.

@TheScrivener I think the only statement that seems too weighty is “When you are born in black or brown skin, you are born with a natural ability of gifts and magical properties.” If you substitute the phrase “gifts and magical properties” with je ne sais quoi, it may seem less personalized and more accessible to someone outside of Black culture.

However, holding the culture sacred is what the song is advocating. Ironically, if you sanitize the themes to make them accessible to those outside the culture, then you would be doing what the song itself speaks out against.

Keep in mind, the overall theme of this album is pro-Black (not anti-White, mind you), but there will be concepts that may be difficult to grasp or altogether elusive. I would give caution not to force accessibility in those places, as it could easily make Genius come off tone deaf.

I think, in its current form, the first sentence comes across as exoticizing and othering. It’s less problematic if you assume the writer is black (and unfortunately white is still the default), but it’s still weird and factually incorrect. Skin tones don’t give you special properties.

I think that first sentence only works if you could support the “black girl magic” album theme within the annotation.

Other than that it’s a very good annotation.