This surprise-released, self-produced record is a reminder that Solange is an R&B frontrunner in her own right. It’s a celebration of women, black culture and – above all – music.
Knowles’ fourth album is as fantastical and hopeful as its opening implies, a fluid collection of songs that spotlight her spectral voice and salute her hometown of Houston while also nodding to Stevie Wonder’s cosmic funk and the streaming era’s constantly shuffled focus.
When I Get Home offers so much to be immersed in ... With the album and accompanying video, Solange emerges a true visionary with a piece of self-discovery that trusts its audience enough to eschew hand-holding and easy answers.
In essence, When I Get Home is a deeply personal album which ditches the standards of the pop industry in many ways.
In a year where R&B and hip hop have proved the most innovative and original genres Solange has delivered a brilliantly crafted record that places her right at the top.
Solange's abstract fourth album When I Get Home plays like a dream, but its logic is sound.
A Seat at the Table was an invitation into the woes that weighed heavy on Solange’s heart; When I Get Home is her gesture of consent to enter the warmest depths of her mind.
Driven by feelings, mindfulness and a newfound sense of purpose, the avant-garde album takes on an intensified jazz approach filled with sonic repetition, chord progression and freeform collaboration. And despite being light in lyrics, it's heavy in Houston traditions.
Solange’s fourth album is unhurried, ambient, and exploratory. Using everything from spiritual jazz to Gucci Mane, Solange conjures her hometown with exceptional songcraft and production.
With When I Get Home, the end result is a series of songs that feel like similar but still distinct microclimates, built out of samples that appear and vanish without a moment’s notice.
Where 2016's A Seat At The Table commanded respect, action and validation to an extent, When I Get Home offers respite, support and hope.
When I Get Home is an uncompromising and leftfield sequel to ASATT, that captures the essence of why Solange is such a singular talent.
Songs play out like mantras, her rawness manifesting as repetition.
Overall, ‘When I Get Home’ is a triumph, and is the kind of album you put on to reach your calming, safe place, when you get home at the end of a long day.
She offers brief but potent statements; over half the tracks are under three minutes and each one bleeds into the other like watercolors on her canvas.
A beautiful stream of consciousness, ‘Home’ is the sound of an artist, donning a cloak of creative freedom. It’s a look that suits her.
While When I Get Home is a valiant effort and (thankfully) distinctive to mainstream music’s consistently homogenized landscape, it could’ve benefited from less freeform and a little more stability.
Compared to A Seat at the Table, the balance of which processed anguish and anger, this is lighter and freer, above all else a luxuriant bliss-out.
The songs frequently sound like jams or extemporisations on a theme, where melodies float away vaporously or get stuck in repetition.
There are some good moments spread across When I Get Home ... but for the most part it just sounds like an album of interludes that vary in length.
While more eclectic and adventurous than its predecessor, When I Get Home is let down by some stiff instrumentals and Solange's inexpressive singing.
Solange Knowles’s tantalising fourth album conjures fragments and fleeting impressions that get inside your head.
Idk man it was nice but it came off a bit undercooked and redundant to me, Solange really wasn't an engaging enough figure at the helm here to carry these pretty subtle instrumentals. The beats aren't bad, they just really sound like they're shooting to just be as passive as possible so it'd help to have a singer with a lot of presence to really bring them to life, but idk Solange didn't really do that for me on this thing like she did on A Seat At The Table. Carti track is sick tho.
When I Get Home is one of those albums that it's impossible for me to evaluate each track individually due to the correlation that each one has, not only in terms of lyrics but also in terms of production and melodies. This album is an experience unlike anything I had heard back then in 2019, the lyrics are not at all the strongest point of this album but when we talk about catchy melodies it's of an extreme level of richness, even though it seems repeated at times. I understand the reason for ... read more
This album caught me from surprise in a good way. I really enjoyed her last album "A seat at the table" but the run-time on it made me return less on it with some of the deeper cuts on there feeling not as fully fleshed out. However with her newest album 'When I get home' shows Solange maturing as a songwriter and the production on here feeling lively. What makes this a great album in my eyes is the list of collaboration features that complement the aesthetics on here. The most ... read more
I definitely like this album, it’s a well-produced, conceptual work, but to name this record good I had been hating it for two years since initial listening, hating it after last year revisit and only this winter I started to consider fourth Solange’s album as deserved to exist
Maybe it’s my story of getting older, maybe it wasn’t a right time for me to listen to it, but maybe this is the album’s special thing
The thing is that Solange had a very deep connection ... read more
1 | Things I Imagined 1:59 | 80 |
2 | S McGregor (interlude) 0:16 | 75 |
3 | Down with the Clique 3:42 | 81 |
4 | Way to the Show 2:55 | 84 |
5 | Can I Hold the Mic (interlude) 0:21 | 76 |
6 | Stay Flo 2:55 | 88 |
7 | Dreams 2:28 | 88 |
8 | Nothing Without Intention (interlude) 0:23 | 75 |
9 | Almeda 3:56 | 92 |
10 | Time (Is) 3:39 | 84 |
11 | My Skin My Logo 2:55 | 82 |
12 | We Deal with the Freak'n (intermission) 0:31 | 74 |
13 | Jerrod 3:02 | 81 |
14 | Binz 1:51 | 85 |
15 | Beltway 1:41 | 79 |
16 | Exit Scott (interlude) 1:01 | 76 |
17 | Sound of Rain 3:05 | 86 |
18 | Not Screwed! (interlude) 0:22 | 74 |
19 | I'm a Witness 1:51 | 77 |
#1 | / | Los Angeles Times: Mikael Wood |
#2 | / | TIME |
#2 | / | Vulture |
#4 | / | NOW Magazine |
#4 | / | NPR Music |
#5 | / | God Is In The TV |
#5 | / | Okayplayer |
#5 | / | Pitchfork |
#5 | / | The Key |
#5 | / | The Vinyl Factory |