R&B star Solange really suffered for her art while making new album When I Get Home after struggling through "real scary times" in a secret health battle.
The Cranes in the Sky singer surprised fans by dropping her fourth studio album on 1 March (19), and in a Twitter chat with fans this week (begs25Mar19), Beyonce's little sister admitted she wasn't feeling anywhere near her best as she began work on the project.
"my body took a lot from me when i started this record," she wrote. "real scary times, ill tell y'all one day...
"i had to learn to accept a lot of things about myself & this short time we got here... i had some real ugly parts i need (& still need) to work thru (sic)..."
"but thru this albummmmm.... i tried to do the work that would simply bring me the most joy...," she explained, "that would make me confront the things i am most afraid of... to reinforce those things until i really believed them... to realize time & space are big mysterious and I can only align on my own... still got further to gooo (sic)".
Solange went on to explain why My Skin My Logo, her collaboration with rapper Gucci Mane, is one of the songs she is most proud of.
"that song mean so much because i been a Guwop (Gucci) fan for so long and his music been apart (sic) of some of the best most freeing moments of my life," she shared, "and when i was real real sick n lost hope his book kept me goin it gave me faith and strength (sic). i love him and keyshia (Ka'oir, his wife) so much".
The book Solange refers to is The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, the memoir the hip-hop star wrote while serving time in prison for aggravated assault charges, and released in 2017. It went on to become a New York Times bestseller, and is reportedly being adapted for a biopic.
