Solange, largely known as just Beyonce’s little sister, releases her sophomore album, SoL-Angel & the Hadley Street Dreams
today August 26th. This time around she’s taking the reigns, staking her own
claim and doing it the right way: the way she wants to do it.
Solange put out her debut album, Solo
Star back in 2003, with moderate success with the single, “Feelin’
You”. Although people didn’t fully flock to the project, Solange stuck to her
guns and did a couple of films and stayed behind the scenes to give attention to her young son. After
a short break from the industry, she began working on the album, SoL-Angel & the Hadley Street Dreams, as well as penning
tracks for big sis, Beyonce, and label-mate/friend Michelle Williams.
-Bumble Bee
For more info and a video, click through after the Jump:
While looking for the right producers and writers to
collaborate on the project, Solange found doors closing left and right in her
face, due to past associations. But it wasn’t until she played pieces of the records that displayed the direction of her music
that heavyweights like Pharrell Williams, Cee-Lo Green (Gnarls Barkley) and popular producer Mark Ronson
signed onto the project, in addition to working with Shea Taylor, Soulshock and
Karlin and Jack Splash.
It was then that we got a taste of her first single, “♫ I Decided,” people saw that Solange wasn’t doing anything
typical and nor was she trying to stay in her big sister’s shadow. Solange not only delivers creative music but her vision and imagery in her videos shows she’s cut from a different cloth than Beyonce.
Hadley Street Dreams is definitely a solid project. Critics have
already acclaimed the new set as a cult classic. Solange taps into old ’60’s
and ’70’s soul, as well as some down-beat electronic elements. Stand-out tracks
includes the second single, “♫ Sandcastle Disco.” From old school,
feel-good tracks like the Mark Ronson-assisted ” ♫6
O’Clock Blues,” “An Ode to Marvin” and the Cee-Lo-penned “T.O.N.Y.,” to my
favorite electric “Cosmic Journey,” featuring Bilal, Solange conveys her keen
ear.
LISTEN TO THE FULL ALBUM FREE VIA HER MYSPACE
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