What Solange's Grammy Win Really Means to Us
Our girl Solange won a Grammy last week.
Are we happy? Yes.
Does it really matter? No.
We are here for Solange always and in all ways. Plus, music — particularly important and radical music — transcends institutional recognition.
Last week though, Solange’s Cranes in the Sky, the stand out track on the A Seat at the Table album, won Best R&B Performance at the Grammys. The award wasn’t televised but in the pre-award show, Solange eloquently summed up what the song means to her:
…This is such a beautiful honor and I am so humbled by it but I honestly felt like I won far before this because of all of the connectivity that the record has had especially with black women and the stories that I hear on the street.
Cranes in the Sky encapsulates the multitude of feelings many Black women felt, feel, and will feel as we and the men we love just try to “be” in America. Cranes in the Sky is a lexicon of hurt, healing and hope. Solange won the day she penned the first words of Cranes and again on the day she shared it with us. When you aim your work at important things like naming the ills of society, demanding justice, exemplifying freedom and promoting radical self-care — you’ve won.
Grammys are nice. And we want our sisters (and brothers) to have nice things. But when you capture in four minutes and ten seconds the weariness, rage, resourcefulness and resistance of Black women in present day America, you’ve done something worthy of more than just nice things. You’ve done something important. Solange did something important.
So that’s we’re clear.
Are we happy that Solange won a Grammy? Yes.
Does it matter? No.
We are here for Solange always and in all ways. And thankfully, she’s here for us.
