Solange’s third studio album, A Seat at the Table, was praised by critics for its honest and empowering messages regarding the African American experience. On Sunday, just days after ASATT was digitally released, the singer/songwriter delivered a music video for two of the project’s standout tracks: “Don’t Touch My Hair” featuring Sampha and “Cranes in the Sky.”
The former is a four-and-half-minute visual that begins with a close-up shot of Solange shaking her braids back and forth, and then shows the 30-year-old performing striking choreography in various settings. The track addresses the politics of black hair, and how the question of “Can I touch it?” underscores the uneasiness minorities feel in white spaces.
“You and your friends have been called the N word, been approached as prostitutes, and have had your hair touched in a predominately white bar just around the corner from the same venue,” Solange wrote in a recent essay titled “And Do You Belong? I Do.”
“Crane in the Sky” offers equally striking imagery, using beautiful dance and a wide range of natural and manmade backdrops throughout. Both videos were co-directed by Solange and her husband, Alan Ferguson. You can check out “Don’t Touch My Hair” above and “Crane in the Sky” below.
