The best part about a new Solange album is that we’re always spoiled with movie-quality music videos to go with it. And with her latest release, When I Get Home, we practically got a full movie, a precisely choreographed half-hour long companion piece and surreal love letter to the artist’s origins in Houston’s Third Ward. Solange dropped five minutes of it on YouTube as a music video for “Almeda,” stitching together the “Nothing Without Intention” interlude with the standout song of the album, a Playboi Carti-featuring, jazzy flip on the chopped and screwed genre. The “Almeda” video is a well-oiled machine, with legions of dancers orbiting perfectly around Solange, Houston locales and even a fleet of DeLoreans.
While Solange deserves an immense level of respect for her dedication to precisely curating this mechanical aesthetic in her music videos and promotional material, an unedited and unrehearsed slice into the artist’s life can be a breath of fresh air. This is what we get with the music video for “Binz”: 86 seconds of Solange spinning, popping, twisting and twerking in front of a webcam.
“Binz” is low quality, but it’s not low effort. To a particular eye, Solange’s movements could seem incredibly precise and purposeful, as she dances around in a variety of outfits that probably cost more than University tuition, but it still maintains a carefree vibe. There’s no better fit for the song — “Binz” breezes. It’s a lazy sprint, reveling in taking it slow. Solange doesn’t even bother to start her verse until halfway through: “I just wanna wake up to the suns and Saint Laurent / Hundred thousand dollars on the fronts and the blunts.” “Binz” is the sun breaking through the grey sky on a muzzy March day, warming us up to 90 degree afternoons but not giving them to us quite yet. Solange is aware the summer heat will soon creep through the clouds, and dances with an incessant smile on her face for what’s to come.