Solange spoke at a Yale University conference celebrating the legacy of Prince and David Bowie over the weekend, using the one-hour keynote discussion to talk about A Seat At The Table, the art of performance, activism and Prince.

The talk, titled ‘Everybody Still Wants To Fly: Activism In Pop From Prince To Solange’, saw Professor Daphne Brooks and the singer discuss the importance of protest music, extending Prince and Bowie’s pioneering art in her own work and nurturing “urgent, necessary, multi-faceted, black feminist sonic activism”.

The Cranes in the Sky singer explored the cultural sphere that her critically-acclaimed album resides in, discussing her lyrical promotion of safe spaces, self-preservation in an oppressive universe and self-care as a black woman within a world of subjugation and hyper surveillance. She said she was eager for the record to be “existing in black spaces, reaching the audience I wrote it through the lens of”.

She talked of the importance A Seat At The Table had for people wanting to “experience it on their own terms”, and how that shaped her live performances, the most recent in Washington at the alternative inauguration event. Solange called her live performance “a work in progress”.

“This record for me has been really a meditation and me wanting to create a mantra to get to the other side,” she told Brooks. “With the live performance, dance taps into a form of expression and these facets of myself that I’m not able to express in other ways.”

Solange affirmed that she sees the album as protest music, responding to how black bodies are treated in the music industry and the power in R&B as a black woman. “I’m resisting, I’m objecting, I’m refusing. In its most simple way, protest is a statement of objection,” she said. “I think there are so many things that I fought against through this album, and hoped really for me to find healing and solace.”

The artist also discussed her early dreams of being a dancer and choreographer, which were scuppered after she injured her knee dancing for Destiny’s Child. Solange said this was “when I truly began to focus on songwriting. I couldn’t use my body, so I wanted to use my voice”.

“Getting the chance to sit down with Professor Daphne Brooks was a wonderful experience,” Solange said in a press release. “I loved being able to unpack and share the layers of the making A Seat At The Table, and in return, it provided me with an examination and incredible insight into to my process and experiences while creating this album. I was beyond honoured that Yale invited me to celebrate Prince's principles of artist ownership and how they have inspired me through my own artistic journey.”

Solange recently unpacked the making of “Don’t Touch My Hair” for Song Exploder. Academics at Wake Forest University also recently made a call for contributions to a syllabus inspired by Solange’s works, exploring ethnic identity, resisting racism, gender and sexuality and self-care for young women of colour.

Listen to her keynote address below.