Solange Knowles had the chance to establish a name for herself musically and effectively step out of her older sister Beyoncé’s shadow, but, on her newest album, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen), her disconnected songs and dysfunctional beats only hold her back.
In a recent interview, Solange described her new album as, “a collection of ’60s and ’70s-inspired music.” It features songs produced by Pharrell Williams, Polow Da Don, The Neptunes and Mark Ronson.
In the album, released Aug. 26, Solange incorporates classic Motown-inspired soul beats with techno, psychedelic sounds. Though this marriage of old-meets-new sounds enticing, the shoddy songwriting and sub-par vocal stylings doom the album from the start.
It has been a recent trend for artists to take classic rhythms and modernize them for today’s audience. The problem with Solange’s efforts is that she puts too much of a futuristic sound into her music, often branding them nonsensical. Her songs also fail to flow into each other, resulting in a discordant, choppy album.
In the 13 tracks on the album, the subject matter runs the gamut from frustrated love songs to futuristic tunes. The album starts off with the track “God Given Name,” during which Solange asserts her uniqueness as a person.
One bright spot in the album is the song “I Decided-Pt. 1,” which is a throwback to the Supremes era of Motown music. Other songs that could qualify as being moderately entertaining include “6 O’clock Blues” and “I Told You So.”
Unfortunately, these tracks do not have the ability to compensate for the mostly sub-standard remainder of the album. Tracks such as “Cosmic Journey,” featuring Bilal, and “This Bird” are too futuristic for their own good in addition to being the two longest songs on the album. “I Decided-Pt. 2,” basically the same song as “I Decided Pt.-1”, but with a different sound, finishes the album.
In her quest to be distance herself from her sister, it seems she is making a negative name for herself. In an article on Foxnews.com titled, “Solange Snaps on Live TV: Don’t Dare Call her Beyonce’s Sister,” FOX claims that a source close to Solange describes her as, “spoiled to the point that she gets whatever she wants.” It seems that Ms. Knowles needs some serious media training if she wants a taste of her sister’s mainstream success.
Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams does not live up to its lofty title and its illusion of being a good album is just that: a dream.
