It’s the offbeat that gets us to tilt our heads, wonder, wonder some more, and tell ourselves hm?. To say the least. It’s the unconventional. Just like the choreography in Solange’s Don’t Touch My Hair is. A little bit offbeat. An interesting bit of a beat. Now read this last sentence, fast, en français.
When people do exactly what they feel like doing, usually, something very pretty comes out, something unique, actually, comes out.
Not a bit of stress, or stiffness seemed to have crossed the minds brainstorming the video. The brain is so happy when it doesn’t have to stress, or be stiff. Why would it ever, right? You’re happy, it only makes sense. The superb lighting, the unexpected in every frame, the sensorial choice of clothes …and everything, so pleasantly revealed, the angles, the angels — ha, intertwining with lyrics and — yes — hair are balanced by precisely it, by the seemingly freestyle dancing. There’s something suave to it all.
Just like in real life is. Just like life in a video is.
So we live a life like a videooo...
Solange and the beautiful cast of dancers sway back and forth between frames, the warm harmonies and falsettos embrace the soft, elegant steps. The general tone is gentle, yet strong. Just like their facial expressions are. Just like the overall message is. Don’t Touch My Hair is the ninth track on Solange’s third studio album, A Seat At The Table.
It sounds and it looks good. Different.
And things that are different just won’t let you do the tough paper work when working from home. From anywhere really. Things that are different will make you want to explore. See. Hear. Put them on this paper instead, here we are, and, only after, get on with the paper work that feels like work, but all of a sudden doesn’t anymore.
Solange may not be the next Apple — nor does she want to be. That much is plain to see. She does what she wants and it’s not because she’s Beyoncé’s sister that she gets to do what she wants, either. It’s because… She. Does. Exactly. What. She. Feels. It certainly feels so and what we feel is more valuable than… Than what? It doesn’t matter. It’s vital. We know it — not because we’re told, but because it’s already there.
Something that is very old, but looks very contemporary or very contemporary that looks very old, it’s looking for the timeless is something I recently heard Axel Vervoordt saying and liked.
And there’s only one Beyoncé, as well, anyway. One Solange. One Apple. One Nike and so on. One love. Here she goes again, but, newsflash, this started with the offbeat.
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever and ever young
When originality — directly connected to our true selves, to our souls — prevails, beware: sophistication may come knocking, setting off a ripple effect. And then, this might happen too:
Rolling Stone wrote the track uses sparkling synths and drowsy horns as broadsides against those who might deny Knowles and other black women their bodily autonomy, conveying a message of brutal honesty in tender and rich harmonies.
Pitchfork Magazine said Don’t Touch My Hair moves at a heartbeat’s pulse, subtle and steady, yet vibrant and can be read as an explicit rejection of this behavior (the devalue and alienation of black spaces), as a simple establishment of boundaries, or as a powerful pledge of personal identity.
Vogue Magazine found the song to be an uplifting message about hair, and noted how its message relates to a specific community while also being accessible and relevant to the broader community of women in general.
When I Get Home is a story for another time. Stay tuned. Tunefulness. Nice word, huh? Kinda like sweetness. Of. Sound.
Your time, sing.