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I Have Been Writing Songs Since I Was 9 Years Old, So Writing Has And Always Will Be My First Love And Passion.

-Solange Knowles

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I Have Been Writing

Solange Knowles

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I Have Been Writing Songs Since I Was 9 Years Old, So Writing Has And Always Will Be My First Love And Passion.

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I Always Have Looked At "indie" As A Term Of "independence." Never Associated A Sonic Gesture With That In The Same Way That Pop Music Has Always Meant "popular" To Me It Didn't Define A Sound. And I Think Now That Has Been The Context For Things. If Something Is Indie, It Almost Has This Sonic Association With It, Or Pop Has Become This Term Of Shame Almost, Like, Bubblegum Sweet Pop.

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I Talk Very Slow. I Move Very Slow. I Definitely Have That Southern Drawl And Although I Never Necessarily Participated In The Activities That Go Along With Screw. I Definitely Was A Huge Fan Of Screw. Because Melodically, I Don't Ever Really Sing Very Staccato Or Very Fast. It's Really About A Groove; It's Really About A Vibe.

I Remember Being Really Young And Having This Voice Inside That Told Me To Trust My Gut. And My Gut Has Been Really, Really Strong In My Life. It's Pretty Vocal And It Leads Me.

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You Get Educated By Traveling.

I Really Don't Listen To Anyone That I'm Not Proud Of Saying That I Listen To. Even If It's Something A Little Bit More Unexpected, I Didn't Get Too Deep Into The Waka, Gucci Records, But I Like Those With Pride.

Our Mother Always Taught Us To Be In Control Of Our Voice And Our Bodies And Our Work, And She Showed Us That Through Her Example. If She Conjured Up An Idea, There Was Not One Element Of That Idea That She Was Not Going To Have Her Hand In. She Was Not Going To Hand That Over To Someone. And I Think It's Been An Interesting Thing To Navigate, Especially Watching You Do The Same In All Aspects Of Your Work: Society Labels That A Control Freak, An Obsessive Woman, Or Someone Who Has An Inability To Trust Her Team Or To Empower Other People To Do The Work, Which Is Completely Untrue.

I've Let Go Of Being A Super Perfectionist On Every Single Note And Wanting The Pitch To Be Absolutely Perfect All Of The Time. I Grew Up Watching The Best Of The Best.

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I've Also Learned To Only Write Songs And Melodies That Really Work For My Voice And That I Won't Have Issues Doing Live. Because You Can Get Really, Really Comfortable In The Comping Process: Out Of Five Takes, Maybe One Of Those High Notes That You Struggled To Do, Nailed It, And Then Live You're Having That Challenge Of Really Having To Recreate That.

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I Actually Produced Other People's Vocals For A Long Time When I First Signed My Publishing Deal And I Had Just Sort Of Decided That I Only Wanted To Be A Writer. I Would Be In All Of These Writing Sessions, And A Lot Of Times My Publisher Would Say, "you Should Get A Demo Singer To Sing It Because Then It Doesn't Identify As A Solange Song."

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I Have Been Writing Songs Since I Was 9 Years Old, So Writing Has And Always Will Be My First Love And Passion.

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