Why Solange Matters

The dramatic story of a musician and artist whose unconventional journey to international success was far more important than her family name.

Growing up in the shadow of her superstar sister Beyoncé, and defying an industry that attempted to bend her to its rigid image of a Black woman, Solange Knowles has become a pivotal musician and artist in her own right.

In Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips chronicles the creative journey of Solange, a beloved voice for the Black Lives Matter generation. A Black feminist punk musician herself, Phillips addresses not only the unpredictable trajectory of Solange's career but also how she and other Black women see themselves through the musician's repertoire. First, she traces Solange's progress through an inflexible industry, charting the artist's development up to 2016, when the release of her third album, A Seat at the Table, redefined her career. Then, with A Seat at the Table and 2019's When I Get Home, Phillips describes how Solange has embraced activism, anger, Black womanhood, and intergenerational trauma to inform her remarkable art.

Why Solange Matters not only cements the subject in the pantheon of world changing twenty-first century musicians; it introduces its writer as an important new voice.