Jaded, My Tummy

A lot of time has passed since Solange's A Seat at the Table was released in September, and much has been said about it already. However, ASATT is near the top of many year-end lists, including being #1 on Pitchfork's Top 50 of 2016. So, maybe we'll start talking about it again. Anyways, I want to review individual songs from ASATT here, as many as I can, to get myself back into the exercise of reviewing music. The reviews will be more whatever-the-fuck-comes-out-of-me type writing, because I really need to get these ideas out of my head. I haven't reviewed any music in probably like 3 or 4 years. I didn't intend for this to sound so "English major-y," but here we go:

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Fall in your ways, so you can crumble
Fall in your ways, so you can sleep at night
Fall in your ways, so you can wake up and rise

Solange repeats this chorus three times to open ASATT. Its drum work understated, its bass cradling Solange's every word, "Rise" is meticulous, a soft preparation for the journey Solange has for you. Her empathy conveys thoughtfulness, tenderness, and her motives are sincere, galvanizing, compelling. She's like a wise, warmhearted mother tucking in her loved one, comforting you, telling you that failing and falling down are inevitable. The foundation Solange sets is preparing for the quiet storm to come. Using the song's calming tone—single-strike, closed hi-hat, atmospheric synths, delicate keys—to soothe your inner scars and bruises, Solange wants you to be attentive and pensive in mood. "Rise" is the salve before you even start. She empowers, encourages, and pushes us from the nest to explore on our own, to "Walk in your way, so you can wake up and rise," with our identity, our blackness, our humanity in tow but laid bare in front of us. It's what a mother does. And it's what Solange does, bracing us all for A Seat at the Table.