A Seat at the Table is the third studio album by American singer Solange, released on September 30, 2016.
The album came a full eight years after Solange's second studio album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. During that time, Solange spent time living in different places and traveling in order to get into a certain headspace creatively, sometimes even having panic attacks and anxiety during the process.
Solange would draw on personal experiences, as well as delving into her family history to come up with the themes and tone of the album, touching on African-American culture and experiences, especially the perspectives of African-American women. This album, paired with her sister Beyoncé's Lemonade album released earlier that year, gained more cultural relevance towards the end of 2016, as Donald Trump won the American presidency after running a highly nationalist campaign during the promotion and release, which is thought to have helped make both albums' themes of exploring blackness more culturally relevant.
A Seat at the Table received widespread acclaim and became Solange's first number one album on the Billboard 200.
Track listing
- "Rise" (1:41)
- "Weary" (3:14)
- "Interlude: The Glory Is in You" (featuring Master P) (0:17)
- "Cranes in the Sky" (4:10)
- "Interlude: Dad Was Mad" (0:46)
- "Mad" (featuring Lil Wayne) (3:55)
- "Don't You Wait" (4:05)
- "Interlude: Tina Taught Me" (1:14)
- "Don't Touch My Hair" (featuring Sampha) (4:17)
- "Interlude: This Moment" (featuring Dev Hynes, Kelsey Lu and Master P)(0:49)
- "Where Do We Go" (4:24)
- "Interlude: For Us by Us" (featuring Master P) (0:52)
- "F.U.B.U." (featuring The-Dream and BJ the Chicago Kid) (5:13)
- "Borderline (An Ode to Self Care)" (featuring Q-Tip) (3:02)
- "Interlude: I Got So Much Magic, You Can Have It" (featuring Kelly Rowland and Nia Andrews) (0:26)
- "Junie" (3:06)
- "Interlude: No Limits" (featuring Master P) (0:39)
- "Don't Wish Me Well" (4:15)
- "Interlude: Pedestals" (featuring Master P) (0:57)
- "Scales" (featuring Kelela) (3:39)
- "Closing: The Chosen Ones" (featuring Master P) (0:42)
This album contains the following tropes
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Lil Wayne appears on "Mad"; he's the only rapper to have a feature on the album. Q-Tip appears on "Borderline (An Ode to Self Care)", but he sings along with Solange.
- Drowning My Sorrows: The first line of "Cranes in the Sky" is "I tried to drink it away."
- Face on the Cover: Like most of her releases.
- Fading into the Next Song: Happens with the interludes, the songs either fade into them or the interlude fades into the next song.
- Genre Shift: Slight; Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was an alternative R&B album, A Seat at the Table plays with alt R&B, but is more traditional R&B, along with jazz and elements of hip-hop.
- Hates Being Touched: "Don't Touch My Hair," though subtextually it's more referring to the racial otherization of having her hair touched without permission.
- One-Woman Song: "Junie."
- Textless Album Cover: The album cover is just a photo of Solange.
