Solange - When I Get Home (Album Review)

When someone from the Knowles family drops something out of the blue, big expectations follow. Solange has finally returned with a follow up to her 2016 record A Seat At The Table, but unfortunately, this record doesn’t quite have the bark it wishes it did. Solange‘s surprise new record When I Get Home falls short of glory, delivering weak tracks that have meanings greater than the songs can justify.

Solange tends to stray from norms and create whatever she desires, but there’s something off to her experimental nature in When I Get Home. This record is weird, but in the ways you’d hope it wouldn’t be, especially in the cases where Solange is trying to make a statement. It becomes obvious that Solange’s art pop sounds on this record loses its touch when tracks like ‘Aldema‘ play. There’s raising awareness for black representation, then there’s this, a weird mashup of a wonky bassline and charged lyrics that have little sense about what they really want to say. ‘My Skin My Logo‘ is even worse, seeing both Solange and Gucci Mane repeat the same lines about how much stuff they have and how much they like to party. It’s hard to assign much of anything to some tracks, with songs like ‘Way To The Show‘ being nothing more than crooning over a weird beat.

The main problem with When I Get Home is that there’s this constant competition in every track for attention. You never know if its the unconventional beat and repetitive melodies that’s meant to be the focus of the track or Solange’s strangely charged lyrics, creating a disparity that prevents you from taking anything away from the album. Opening track ‘Things I Imagined‘ at least builds a nice vintage, dreamy atmosphere around Solange’s reverberating vocals. There are plenty of tracks that really could’ve gone somewhere had more been done with them, like the jazzy noir-styled ‘Time (Is)‘ and the curiously bubbly ‘Sound Of Rain.’ Sadly, there are more empty tracks between needless interludes and intermissions that just keep dragging the record down from start to finish.

Solange really misses the mark in When I Get Home, failing to synthesize any of her weirdly charged and strangely composed tracks on the record. It’s a lot of bark and no bite, which can never go well. There’s a clear message here, but nothing to back it up.

Favorite Track: Time (Is)

Least Favorite Tracks: My Skin My Logo, Jerrod

Rating: 38 / 100

Stream or buy When I Get Home on Apple Music, and follow our 2019 Playlist on Spotify: