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The record’s success led to Knowles’ Orion’s Rise performance series that included two sold out shows at Radio City Music Hall as well as shows at Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, the Greek Theatre, and Orpheum Theater. A portion of the Radio City Music Hall performance proceeds and all of the proceeds from her Orpheum Theater performance were donated to hurricane relief efforts. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, Apple Music and iTunes Overall Top Albums Charts. Kelly Rowland & Nia Andrews)Ī Seat at The Table debuted at No.
It asks that we look at the fullness of life and wonder aloud if we're actually fulfilled or simply existing. Twenty-four months later, the album is an easy pill to swallow because it is the lesson I had to learn the hard way, a lesson I can now name without running away.īeyond being culturally appreciated, ASATT was and still is an album that asks the listener to dig deeper. I spent the rest of my semester after the Uprising avoiding my problems and using organizing as an easy distraction from the trauma still clinging to my body. It took a semester of depression, anxiety, and avoidance to receive the message Knowles makes clear in ASATT: naming your trauma and speaking about it freely is the first step towards claiming justice that you can only create in yourself.
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The beauty of empowerment and discernment is that it can be felt through Knowles' full arrangements under Master P’s narration. Knowles closes out ASATT with "Pedestals," "Don’t Wish Me Well," and "The Chosen Ones," noting the end of a journey where we sought internal validation and no longer need external acceptance. And Wayne's painful verse on "Mad" gives us a brief, transparent glimpse into the tortured reality of a star who has kept his mental and physical health illness under wraps for years. Knowles speaks deeply and sweetly about how draining the burden of anger can be on the body, too. “I am in the process of opening up to my own anger instead of going to extreme lengths to avoid or hold the anger of others,” author Candice Williams wrote on Electric Lit, speaking candidly about how the repressed anger of black women works to further subjugate those made speechless. I knew deeply how my anger as a black woman was easy to dismiss.
I was too familiar with feeling as if I had to pacify my anger for the world. I knew this song and its lyrics all too well. The record allows for black women, in particular, to be honest about the burden of unreleased anger and the micro-aggressive ways that black women’s rage is policed. One of the high points of the album is Knowles’ haunting track "Mad," featuring Lil Wayne. "I’m gon' look for my body, yeah / I’ll be back like real soon (real soon) / You’re leaving not a trace in the world / But you’re facing the world" –Solange, "Weary"
It was a call to arms for those of us looking for our bodies after putting them on the line one too many times. But for me, the album felt an attack on the little bit of disillusionment I had left it pulled all grit from me and told me to be accountable. For many listeners, ASATT became a breezy anthem toward self-care. When I heard "Weary" for the first time, it felt heavy, like the days I didn’t go to class and all the days my body felt like a burden after the Uprising. It means accepting your reality and doing the thing that will cause immediate pain. Naming the beasts banging on the door is the hardest part.