A Seat at the Table is a gentle-sounding album, but it is not weak. Solange has referred to it as a punk record.

In conversation with W, she said she was aiming to make, “A highly honest, disruptive, angsty record with all of the nuances that I wanted to express.” Her minimalist distillation of R&B, which takes into consideration not just the genre’s rich musical history but also its penchant for social commentary, has resulted in a stunning statement that redefines the old chestnut about the personal being political.