Solange released When I Get Home, her fourth full-length album, on Thursday night. The 19-track collection is her first since 2016’s A Seat at the Table, and it includes contributions from Metro Boomin, Pharrell, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler, the Creator, Playboi Carti and more.
Solange hinted at the release of When I Get Home earlier this week by revealing a new BlackPlanet page. Her site included cryptic phrases that could double as statements of artistic intent: “An exploration of origin”; “I made the pilgrimage back to the pagoda of Third Ward Houston to answer this.” In addition, the site included numerous photos — shots of Solange, but also dancers executing acrobatic moves and men in cowboy outfits riding horses.
The star offered more Houston-centric clues about the nature of When I Get Home on Instagram. In the caption of one post, she referenced “Back Then,” which was a Top 40 hit for the Houston rapper Mike Jones in 2005. In the caption of a different image, she paid tribute to Devin the Dude, another Houston-born MC.
It’s been three years since Solange released A Seat at the Table, her commercial breakthrough: The album sold the equivalent of 72,000 copies opening week, delivering the singer her first Number One on the Billboard 200. In addition, A Seat at the Table yielded Solange’s first two Hot 100 entries, “Cranes in the Sky” and “Don’t Touch My Hair.” And while modern radio programmers generally favor rap over R&B, they made an exception for “Cranes in the Sky,” which also became a Top 25 hit on the airwaves.