Artists uniquely celebrate the anniversaries of their albums, and Solange Knowles has partnered with the Criterion Channel and BlackPlanet to mark two-years since the release of When I Get Home. The 2019 visual album was unlike any other project from the singer’s catalog and recently, Solange reflected on the near-death health struggles she faced while creating the album. It’s been reported that the singer lives with an autoimmune disease, although it hasn’t been specified to the public, and Solange reflected on being “in and out of hospitals” at the time.
“When I first started creating When I Get Home, I was quite literally fighting for my life…in and out of hospitals (s/out park plaza on Binz! 🙂 with depleting health and broken spirits asking God to send me a sign I would not only survive but that if he let me make it out alive, I would step into the light, whatever that meant,” Solange wrote.
“He began speaking to me. Half the time I didn’t know where it was coming from,” she added. “I only knew I had to open the door and honor it. I didn’t see naann a thing I imagined. I didn’t know who I was speaking to on ‘I am a witness.’ When I listen back, I hear a woman who had only an inkling of what the journey entailed, but didn’t have a clue of why or what the journey would look like.”
“I make work to answer questions within me, for survival. Sometimes I am asking myself that same questions many ways. Sometimes it takes me years. I have to honor that time. This Houston ting moves slow y’all.” Check out Solange’s posts, and a few more from fans who shared about the impact of When I Get Home, below.