Y’all. It’s 2019 and I just logged back into BlackPlanet.
Not since my mom dragged me for filth in 2005 when she found out my screen name (it was ladypimp937, so I deserved it) have I logged into the first social media site created in 1999 for us, by us. But Solange Knowles changed that on Tuesday of Black History Month when she announced on her Instagram and Twitter pages that she was taking over the platform.
On Twitter, the “A Seat At The Table” artist shared a video screengrab of a page that includes gifs and her signature small, geometrically friendly text, along with the caption: “find me on black planet... black planet 4 evaaa.” It included a link to her BlackPlanet page, created by Lula Dualeh.
On her BlackPlanet page, the star has 24 photos that pay homage to her Houston roots with a rodeo aesthetic, as well as dates for several festivals where she’ll be performing this year.
In a fall 2018 interview with The New York Times Magazine, Solange teased a forthcoming album that would be dropping before the end of the year. Since then, the singer has been leaving cryptic breadcrumbs on her social media, leaving fans guessing when her new music will actually come.
Folks are now speculating that her BlackPlanet takeover is a way that she’ll be promoting her album. When one Twitter user wrote, “I didn’t have a blackplanet page,” BlackPlanet’s account responded, “It’s not too late to change that! We have some incredible updates coming soon. You definitely don’t want to miss it!”
Solange has yet to release details on her new music, but seeing as I just reactivated my account and signed up for the BlackPlanet newsletter, I’m sure I’ll be among the first to know.