H.E.R. Explains Why She’s Releasing A Reggae Project “Very Soon”
Hot on the heels of her debut studio album, Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer H.E.R. says her upcoming Reggae project will be released very soon.
Speaking with Apple Music 1 today, she told host Ebro Darden that she had been working on the project alongside her 21-track album Back of My Mind, which was released in June 2021. The album, which featured Ty Dolla Sign, Cordae, Lil Baby, and Chris Brown, debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart.
“Alongside my album, I’ve been working on a reggae project,” H.E.R. teased. “So, you’re gonna get that very soon.”
The Damage singer explained how her Slow Down collaboration with Skip Marley, and Do To Me — her 2020 single which interpolated the iconic Reggae songs Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus & Pliers and Bam Bam by Sister Nancy — have inspired her to ‘celebrate the culture’ with a whole new project.
“You know when I released Do to Me and of course doing Slow Down with Skip [Marley] I realized how much I loved Caribbean music and I’ve always known that, but just really getting into it and celebrating that culture. I really wanted to like go all in, so I’m working on that right now. It’s been in the works for a while,” she said.
The 24-year-old, whose real name is Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, added that she only discovered how much she loved Reggae and Dancehall after moving to New York — where there are large populations of Dominican, Jamaican, Guyanese, Haitian, and Trinidadian immigrants.
“Honestly I love Caribbean music. I didn’t really have a full appreciation of it until I moved to New York, until I went to the East Coast, and I got into dancehall and I got into some of the more uptempo club records. I literally have been a huge fan of reggae since I was a young kid. So, yeah… you’re gonna hear it very soon.”
H.E.R., which stands for Having Everything Revealed, first revealed the still-untitled Reggae EP during a visit to Jamaica earlier this year to shoot the video for her We Going Crazy collab with DJ Khaled and Migos.
She told the Jamaica Observer newspaper that the project will feature a lot of Reggae artists, but so far there have been no details on who might appear on the EP or an official release date.
However, the R&B singer has been spotted in the studio with Dancehall star Shenseea, and Reggae songstress Lila Iké.
Iké, who is best known for Second Chance, Stars Align, and Solitude, released the 7-track debut EP The ExPerience last year, while Shenseea (Blessed, Trending Gyal, Rebel) is gearing up to release her debut album this year.
H.E.R. won the Grammy Award for Song Of The Year in March with her 2020 song, I Can’t Breathe. She also copped the Best R&B Song Award this year for Better Than I Imagined, a collab with Robert Glasper. Slow Down, her collab with Skip Marley, was also been nominated in the same category.
Then in April, she won the Oscar for Best Original Song with Fight For You from the movie Judas and the Black Messiah.
H.E.R. previously won two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album with her self-titled compilation album in 2018.
H/T: