Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Mathew Knowles and Tina Knowles. Solange's older sister is singer Beyonce. Her father, originally from Alabama, is African American, and her mother, originally from southern Louisiana, is Creole (with African, Native American, and French ancestry).

In an interview with MTV in 2009, Knowles revealed that she was determining the type of sound for the follow-up to Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. Knowles also parted ways with the Interscope-Geffen-A&M record label group. She would now release her third studio album independently. Early in 2010, Knowles traveled to Australia to work with Australian rock band, Midnight Juggernauts on her third studio album. Knowles had planned to release the album in summer as revealed on her official Twitter account in 2009. She also revealed on her Twitter account that she rented a house in Santa Barbara, California to get into a certain state of mind while writing and making music. On May 7, 2010, Knowles made a guest appearance on the popular children show, Yo Gabba Gabba! for a "Mothers Day Special" where she performed an original song called "Momma Loves Baby".  In an interview with Vibe on July 7, 2010, Knowles said she suffered "a little bit of a breakdown" while recording her new album: "I literally gave up my sanity for a while to do this record. [...] We literally were waking up in the morning and just making music all day and all night. [...] It just started to wear on me in so many different ways. I started having these crazy panic attacks." Knowles explained how she made sacrifices "mentally, emotionally and financially", and continued, "It's more than an album to me. It's a transitional time in my life." Regarding the musical direction of the album, she said the inspiration came from new wave and stated, "This is a dance record, but the lyrics can get pretty dark at times." The singer has also worked on songs with Chromeo and long-time collaborator Pharrell Williams.  In September 2012, Solange released a teaser video for "Losing You", which was announced as the lead single from her third studio album. This release marked Solange's first release as a signee of the independent label Terrible Records. The video was shot in Cape Town, South Africa in early September 2012. Knowles revealed in an interview that her mother Tina Knowles had paid for Solange and her friends to fly out and record the video as her birthday gift. On October 24, 2012, Knowles held a listening party in New York City for her EP True, released for digital download on iTunes November 27, 2012. The CD and vinyl was made available January 8, 2013. Following the EP's release, Solange appeared on the cover of The Fader magazine's 84th issue.  On May 14, 2013, Knowles announced that she had launched her own record label named Saint Records, which she will be using to release her third full-length album and future music projects distributed through Sony. Solange also collaborated with The Lonely Island on the song "Semicolon" which was featured as part of YouTube's Comedy Week and is featured on The Lonely Island's album, The Wack Album. On November 11, 2013, Knowles' record label released its first compilation album, Saint Heron.

When did she sign with Saint Records?
On May 14, 2013, Knowles announced that she had launched her own record label named Saint Records,