We live in a world where people must be winners which means there must be
losers. The winners are seen on billboards and are given mass attention, while the
losers are shunned. Weary by Solange explores this dichotomy. She speaks explicitly
from marginalized voices, as she is a black woman in America. The opening lyrics “I'm
weary of the ways of the world/Be wary of the ways of the world” are a declaration and
call to action. Solange uses the similar sounds of homophones ‘weary’ and ‘wary’ to
express the constant state of exhaustion and fear Black Americans endure.

This is no new sentiment. My mom has always told me to be wary of the world's
ways. But my mom has never let me sleep, won't leave my side, and has never let me
experience the world. And my mistakes are amplified. So her sermons have felt like
lectures that I should dismiss. I do not blame my mom. In Between the World and Me,
Ta-Nehisi Coates explores how Black parents are obsessed with their children in
unhealthy ways. They are conditioned to be by the children-killing police. The bodies of
black children are so fragile, yet hardened because we are constantly reminded of
doom. But when Solange speaks, there is no scorn in her voice. She is slow and pitying
and self-aware.

In the refrain, Solange sings “I'm gonna look for my body, yeah/I'll be back like
real soon.” Again, Solange is not commanding, she is expressing her struggles with
identity. She is not as untouchable as my mother who seems to know it all. Solange has
made me wary of my mother. My mother’s obsession with my body comes from losing
her body or— her identity. My mother is also looking for her body. Of course, I have
become weary of my own body too. I'm no longer in this panic state of doom, I am a
human who is the conscience of the world around me. I am wary of the winners in
society, and how they step on the backs of the losers.