Solange Knowles might be a pretty big pop star with some swanky events to go to and some conspiracy theories about her attack on brother-in-law Jay Z to quash, but she basically rents out strangers’ properties.
The Losing You singer, who lives in New Orleans, finds it impossible to get creative at home so moves out to an Airbnb for the days when she’s writing. ‘When I’m working on a record, I actually have to remove myself from distractions – especially living in New Orleans.’
She added that people don’t quite expect her to use Airbnb, though: ‘It’s always kind of awkward when I walk up and say, “Hi, I’m the Airbnb-er,”’ she told Vulture.
Criteria for choosing an appropriate Airbnb include it looking ‘super-vibe-y in the listing’ and, she says, a great location: ‘I wanted to be in the area that my grandparents were from: New Iberia’ (our map skills tells us this is in Louisiana, kind of close to Solange and Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston, Texas).
But it’s not only when she’s writing – it seems she’ll use Airbnb when other people use hotels, like when she visited Austin for South by Southwest. It was so rustic and vibey, that it ‘had a chicken coop! I recently learned that at sundown, they just go back into their coop. For a long time before that I was chasing them so they’d go back in there.’
While this might not provide us with the most useful knowledge as we’ve never had to put a chicken to bed, she does give us some cooking tips. For when the chicken is dead, you see: ‘Everything that I cook, I use Cajun seasoning. That’s the way I grew up.’
‘My mom used to use Tony Chachere’s, which is the more known brand, but here I became completely obsessed with Slap Ya Mama seasoning. I also discovered Punch Ya Daddy.’
Questionable names, but they do make us wonder if there’s a ‘kick at your brother-in-law’ spice rub to be invested in. We mean, if Kelis could make her own brand of sauces…
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.