Dubai's a pretty powerful place.
— Solange Knowles
In any relationship, there's gonna be conflict.
I try to transition my energy into just having fun.
I'm making the music I want to make, in my own space, and it's just incredible to be able to continue to do that.
Both my parents are first-generation success stories.
I really fell in love with dance. By the time I was seven, I had dance class six times a week. I was obsessed.
I think that some people get wrapped up in their own egos. They need to see certain album sales and certain monuments.
There are a lot of times when people are diplomatic about things, and I'm not that type. I'm not afraid to say exactly what I mean.
I'm happy that I have a beautiful, wonderful, amazing child who's made me a better person.
I really wanted people just to get to know Solange on my first album, just to establish Solange's sound, just to establish Solange's personality.
I have more to offer than music that is automatically dance.
Colors and prints are part of my style.
With Saint Heron, I really wanted to celebrate and continue to cultivate the community for genre-defying R&B artists.
I'm really good at telling people 'no.'
My sister and I were not allowed expensive clothes. We so badly wanted these Fila sneakers as kids, but my mother took us down to the flea market and got imitation ones. Look at the early Destiny's Child videos. You'll see.
What's important is that my family and I are all good.
I think many people, especially from other cultures, just don't understand the role hair plays in black women's lives.
There are a lot of historical lofts in Houston, and it's amazing for me that a lot of them were built in the 1920s. I love the exposed bricks and the very industrial stuff.
When you think back in history about producers and artists or writers who've had good synergy, a lot of times they date, or they're married, or there's a friendship and a kinship.
The one thing I'm really excited about is that the Saint Heron shop is not grounded in just fashion and clothing. We have connected with artists and artisans in every landscape.
A lot of people don't know me as an artist.
Major labels act as banks in terms of how they produce and release your album. No major label is really good or bad; they just 100 per cent operate as a business, which makes sense... no hard feelings.
My mom's best friend growing up was diagnosed with AIDS, and he basically raised me when my mom was launching her business. Although I didn't understand at the time what HIV or AIDS was, I knew that's what he passed away from.
I can tell you what I really love: when I run into people on the street that tell me they have connected with my music.
You just have to know that the more successful you get as an artist, the less of a normal life you have. It's a trade-off.
It's so sad, actually, how teachers and parents tell their kids, 'You're never gonna be anything.'
My sound is Solange. It's definitely not Destiny's Child.
I've always loved Dusty Springfield and Martha Reeves.
People from New Orleans are extremely prideful.
I really enjoy my privacy and being able to walk my son to school every morning and pick him up every afternoon.
I never borrowed clothes from Beyonce when we were growing up. But now my style is a little more tame and hers is a little more adventurous.
I was diagnosed with ADHD twice. I didn't believe the first doctor who told me, and I had a whole theory that ADHD was just something they invented to make you pay for medicine, but then the second doctor told me I had it.
I'm such a Southern girl.
I'm surrounded by such beautiful, creative people, and I just love sort of sharing their stories and their journeys.
Just going through a marriage and a divorce - which I essentially did by 21 - will give you an insane amount of perspective on life.
I had my own little quirks as a child.
I have so many friends who are designers of color.
I think all artists have a different story to tell, and no story is the same.
I grew up seeing my sister in the studio. I would go to recording sessions and take notes.
At 15, saying I wanted to do a reggae album after growing up in a snazzy house in Houston - it was kind of random.
I'm trying to cut down my cursing.
I don't feel like I owe anybody other than my child and my family anything.
Every teenage artist out there is mostly talking about boys, and I think there's so much more to being a teenager than just boys.
My son spends as much time with his dad as he does with me.
When Destiny's Child released their first record, I don't think I even noticed. I was still at school, and I had my own life in Houston.
I'm super-sensitive when it comes to my sister. I've been known to snap off a little bit behind her.
I think it's really important for every mother to find their own way.
It's really special to have a niece because I have a son, so I get to have a little girl, too.
I'm not sure if it's cause I'm getting old, but my heels have to be 3.5 inch or less, or a chunky heel.
I stand for people who are firm in their journey.
