WEBVTT - WUWY INTERVIEW: Mickey Guyton On Confronting Hate, Her Son's Near-Death Experience, Her Time with 3LW + More 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:04.080 What's up. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.680 It's way up at Angela Yee. I'm here with I 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.920 mean the biggest. We got Mickey guyon in the building. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:10.640 Who are you. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:12.040 I'm good? How are you? 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:12.959 I am so good? 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:14.600 I feel like we had a lot to catch up 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.520 on right now. Oh you came in. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:20.000 I said, the hair is hairing today. It looks beautiful 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.280 with the little curtain bangs. What's going for now? 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.480 I first saw you and met you at Essence Festival. 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.240 Yes twenty one, I think was that twenty twenty one, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:29.920 It might have been twenty twenty two. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.120 So you know what twenty two that is the day 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.479 that I signed my contract for this show. Way Up 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.800 with Angela Yee was the day that I met you. Wow, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:38.640 And you were at Essence Festival and I knew your 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.840 name and I knew you were like a big deal. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.080 But also you know, you went and performed there and 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.440 you were so amazing. And then I interviewed you, yes, 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.160 right after that live for Hulu. So good to see 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.120 you in person and have a real sit down. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.080 And I am so glad and you know, like going 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.320 to perform at Essence Fest that time, and I performed 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.400 this year and seeing so many more country the art 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:02.680 black country artist at the event has just been really 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:03.360 really cool to see. 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.520 And let's discuss that too, because country music is something 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.360 that you've always wanted to do, but we know that traditionally, 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.400 country music hasn't always been the most welcoming when it 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.400 comes to black women, when it comes to black people 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.920 in general, even though there have been black country artists 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.200 from the beginning. So for you getting started, how was that? 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.480 You know, initially it was really really great. I got 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.839 my record deal right out of the gate, and things 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:30.720 were going really well. I've got to do so many 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.560 amazing things, and I'll never forget when I got signed. 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.280 The president of the label that I was signed to, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.880 Capital told me, he goes, I'm telling you, Mickey, it's 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.880 really hard in country music for women, and it's going 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.840 to be even harder for you. But just know that, like, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.560 we're in it and we're going to we're here to 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.400 try to make it as amazing as possible. 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:50.080 That feels good. 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.360 But then the real work came in and he was 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:52.880 not lying. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:53.680 It is. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:59.280 Was and still is extremely hard for black women as 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.320 well as women and country music. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.279 You know, I mean, And then the real work started 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.760 and just think about like for you going out there 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:08.160 like that. Right now, you see a lot of people 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:09.880 who are like, oh, I'm doing country music. I'm doing 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.160 a country album obviously, and I know everybody's Beyonce, Beyonce, 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.679 Beyonce because that was such a big deal. But it's 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.320 also I feel kind of like, okay, but I've also 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.920 you know, I'm just too appreciative of the fact that 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:23.800 she did that and brought more attention to it, and 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.320 she did pay homage to you as well as she 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:27.520 did for opening the door. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.200 It's also kind of like, this has been, yes, happening. 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.640 Yes, it has been happening, and I am really really 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.360 grateful because I can only do so much with my 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.160 little platform that I have, but Beyonce has. She is 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.839 a world renowned superstar. She is literally the biggest star 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.760 in the world, and for her to pursue country music 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.200 it then encouraged her fans to start being like, well, 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.400 wait a minute, let's go let's. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.160 Support some support your time Grammy nominated artists. Let's not 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.160 forget that you also performed at the d I did. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:02.639 How was that experience? 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.760 You know, there's been it was a dream come true, 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.960 you know, I as we know and as your listeners know, 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.000 there's been so much turmoil in this country. It's made 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.640 us question so many things. But being at the DNC, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.440 there was just so much love and light and joy 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.160 in that room. There are so many different nationalities all together, 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.320 intermingled together, and it just felt like the America that 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:28.200 I know that I'm so proud of that. I think 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.120 we're all so proud of that. For a minute there 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.600 we were like, no, wait a minute, is it for everybody? 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.800 I mean, I still feel like that. We do still 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:35.400 feel like that. 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.839 I mean every single day, it's like every single day 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.880 we're triggered, you know, outside of the country. Yes, every side. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.240 Of the country is what it should be called. 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.960 But yeah, you know, there's so many it was just 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.400 such a beautiful moment to be there and support Kamala. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.520 You know, I can't even imagine the kind of things 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.560 that you might have experienced, so just going through what 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.360 you've gone through and being a trailblazer for what it 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.760 is that you do. And so there was a period 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.560 of time though, when you weren't necessarily pursuing country. 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.240 I so yes, so I you know, I went to 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:11.080 La to pursue you know, acting and to go to school, 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.720 and so I wasn't pursuing country music like that because 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.440 I literally didn't see anybody in that genre that looked 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.440 like me, Like there was no Charlie Pride, there was 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.919 no Darius Rucker, there was literally no one. So I 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.320 just never I loved the genre. I just never thought 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.440 that I would ever be accepted into this genre. And 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.440 one day I was working with a woman named Jessica 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.320 Bendinger who wrote bring It On and Stick It and 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.200 so I was doing some demos for her and she 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.239 was like, Mickey, like, do you sing country music? Because 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.240 you really sound like a country singer, And I said, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.040 I love country music. I just never thought that anybody 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.240 would ever take me seriously. And that kind of put 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.719 the the bug in my ear to be like, Okay, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.120 I'm going to start pursuing this. And it's like country 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.640 music really chose me, Like the stars were aligned, and 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.760 I found the ripe opportunities and met a manager and 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:58.920 was able to get signed to a major record deal 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:00.000 in Nashville. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.680 Because I remember there was a time when Adrian said 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:03.720 you were actually. 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.080 Yes, yes, girl, we were called little women back in 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.920 the day. Yeah, yeah, that, yeah, I think it was. 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.760 I think it was because of that movie, right that 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:14.680 we loved so much. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:15.920 But how long was that for? 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.279 It was literally for like a summer because my parents 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.320 asked too many questions. My dad is a businessman and 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.560 wanted to see what these contracts were like. And he 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.400 was like, huh huh, yeah, you need to thank God home. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.880 Yeah, yeah, because a lot of people did. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:31.880 And people act like it's a ride a passage, yes 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:35.200 to that, like you have to in your first get yeah, 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:36.520 but you don't have to. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.240 You don't have to, And it's hard when you see 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.640 something that you're a part of go and become successful 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.560 school and I had to see that. But you know, 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.200 I've talked to Adrian and we you know, we encourage 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.000 each other all the time, and it's just crazy, like 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.560 we were so young and babies and we got to 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.280 just connect in such a beautiful way like that, like 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.360 we have something together that nobody else has, like we 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:02.240 were babies together. 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:03.920 I never thought about that that you had to go 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.880 on and see them do yeah. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.760 Yeah and be really humbling. 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:09.560 Were you mad at your dad? Like why did you not? 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.000 I'm not a confrontational person, so I internalize a lot 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.280 of things and I held it in I guess maybe 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.640 I was, But like in the scheme of things now, 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:20.839 the way that life has worked out, I'm really happy 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:21.560 the way that it did. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.760 You know what, Yeah, obviously looking back it was the 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.080 right decision for sure. Sometimes those sacrifices you can't see 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.719 ahead of that, especially when you're young and like wanting something. 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:32.760 Yes, and there was not like you didn't have like 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.480 social media to like keep it up with things, So 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.120 you're just like imagining how amazing they were doing. 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.520 You know what's done well for you too, being yourself 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.800 and telling your story too. And so even I know 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.960 you have the album coming out on Friday, Yes and 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.880 m twenty seven Scary Love. Yes, you talk about your 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:55.400 son and experiencing, you know, something that could have been 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.440 horrible horrible? So can you talk about that because I 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.800 can't even envision what that must feel like. 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.120 So back in twenty twenty one, when my son was 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.840 nine months old, he got really, really sick and then 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.680 had sepsis, and we found ourselves in the ICU and 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:16.040 I was literally watching my son's life slip away from him. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.840 It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever experienced. 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.440 And I remember when we were in the er. I 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.520 choked out the words I said, is he. 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:25.080 Going to die? 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.160 And the nurse says to me, she goes, I'm not 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.400 going to lie to you right now. I am very concerned. 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:33.760 He is the sickest person in the er right now. 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.920 And this was during the height of COVID, and I 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.840 just remember falling to my knees and just praying to God, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.320 like help my baby, like just please, I'll do anything, 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.320 Just help my baby. And after going through something like that, 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.760 I now understand why our moms were so crazy over us. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:51.440 Like when we were growing up, I'm like, hell, that's 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:52.160 wrong with my mom? 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:53.640 Like why is she like chill out? 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.120 Yes, you know what I mean. And so then I 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.600 just understood it so much more. And like when I 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.520 get in the car, when I go anywhere, like I'm 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:03.920 just praying, like, Lord, just get me safe, get me 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.880 home safely so I can be there for my son, 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.400 like just make sure that he's okay. Like I'm just 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.760 constantly praying. I pray more than I ever did. 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.880 Maybe I got to ask fromire and nestay, were you 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:15.840 a bad kid? Because you said your mom? 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.360 Well, I mean I wasn't listen. I know, as a 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.920 kid a lot of times we took chance. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:24.280 I mean chances. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.520 But I was really sheltered, Like I came up on 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.840 a very Southern Baptist like you know, that old Southern 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.199 Bible belt, I know, and my dad was a deacon 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:39.560 and my mom was a deacon. Yes, nothing nothing. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.439 So was it tough for them to have you enter 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:43.720 into this music business? 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.079 Yeah, but it was crazy, Like maybe I should have 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.160 given them more credit because as protective as they were, 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.200 they saw that this was a passion for me and 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.280 a dream for me, and they allowed me to pursue that, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.040 and maybe, in my mind, like thinking about it now, 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:58.719 like I should have given them a little bit more 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.520 credit and trusted them with a lot of the shit 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:02.440 I went through in my life. 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.600 Kids never give their parents credit at the time that 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:06.640 is happening because instead what we're. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.280 Like, why are you doing this to me? 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.520 Yeah? Yeah, exactly, like they would ever understand. 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:13.000 Yeah. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.000 Now, Black Like Me, that's another song that was huge 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.240 for you. But also I think I opening for a 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:19.880 lot of people. So I would love for you to 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.600 discuss the process of you doing that song. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:21.800 Yees. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.439 So I wrote Black Like Me in twenty eighteen. This 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:30.280 song I was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Performance. 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.280 I was the first black woman to be nominated for 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:33.400 Best Country Performance. 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:35.640 Can you imagine it's twenty eighteen? 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:40.240 Okay? And I was nominated in twenty twenty. And I 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:44.160 wrote that song just so. There's a book called Black 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.600 Like Me written by a white man named John Howard 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.600 Griffin who threw radiation, darkened his skin to look like 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.080 a black man, and go down to the Deep South 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.960 during the Civil Rights era. And he really did, you 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.320 know when that phrase walk a mile in my shoes, 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.040 he actually did do that, and he became a changed 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.760 man because he saw the true walk of what it's 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.280 like to be a black man in America. And it's 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.960 such a prolific book. So I wrote a song called 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.240 Black Like Me about just my experience living in this 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:19.040 country being a country music singer, and it just changed 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.040 a lot of people's hearts when they heard that song. 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.320 Yeah, because you know, we think about country music, we're like, ooh, 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.080 we don't see none of that, said the awards, and 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:30.120 you posted yes the country music. Let me ask you this, so, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.400 do you feel like the first time, you know, when 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.880 you were nominated and all of this, did you feel accepted. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.120 And when you did black like me, was there people 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:40.920 like saying crazy things to you? 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.960 Yes, okay, you know, being a trailblazer, as you know, 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.600 in any respective industry, it comes with the price, and 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.160 there was a lot of that. There was a lot 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.719 of encouragement, but there was also a lot of you know, 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.360 hate that came with that as well. I'm still recovering 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:56.760 from that. 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.960 Yeah, I can't imagine because people say like nasty things 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.360 say to me online all the time, but in a 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.079 genre that you're in, I feel like that's got to be. 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.800 Yes, and with the Bible Verse, with the Bible Verse 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.959 and their bio and American flag and they're saying, get it, 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.480 get your ghetto ass out of country music. Yeah, it 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.240 was a lot of that. I mean I've had them 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.440 come after my son. It was a lot death threats, 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:19.960 everything that. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.320 People have no idea what you've had to go through. 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.080 I mean people women, black women do and we do. 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.480 But I just you know, I know that this is 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.000 such a hard business and people will tell you, oh, 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.200 you've got to be prepared for it. Everybody knows that, 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.160 like when you come in you're you're never prepared. And 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.760 sometimes people don't understand like the breakdowns that could happen, 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:40.520 but you are happily married. 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.000 I am happily married girl. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.440 Now, you had a long distance relationship for a while, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:45.840 how like eight years? 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.320 Eight years? But you were were you traveling a lot? 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.040 I was traveling a lot. You know, the distance makes 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:51.720 their heart grow. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.120 Fonder, right, And I think sometimes because you're so busy, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:55.400 it's not like you would have been at home even 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:56.920 if you guys were in the same place. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.760 So how did you guys maintain that things listen? 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.040 There was a lot of hard times. There were more 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.280 hard times than there were good times. Like it was 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.840 a lot. You know, we had to start going to therapy. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.560 We really chose each other every single day. I mean, 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.440 I'm not saying that everything was perfect, but once we 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.560 got past like the bad, the bad, bad, bad bad 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.720 shit and still chose each other. That's how I knew 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.640 that this man was my person because it's so easy to, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.840 you know, go through life with someone when things are good. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.800 But the real test is when things are bad, can 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.360 you find someone that you can go through heaven and 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:38.040 hell with? And that was my person and he supported 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.640 me through all of my rise in country music. He 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.760 was the one that told me when I was getting 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.840 ready to quit and to give up, he said, there's 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.560 so many black women and black people that need you 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.040 in this genre. You can't just give up because if 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:52.760 you give up, your giving up on them. And there's 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:54.640 so many people that have these dreams. And he was 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:55.360 that person for me. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.840 It was not just about you, bab. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.760 He's like, what, we're not going to do country music. 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.480 So when you did finally put out your first feature, 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.280 that full album, yeah, how did you feel that? 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.920 I felt? I had waited for years and years, almost 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.880 a decade to put my first album out, which is Wild, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.040 and I was terrifying. But I got nominated for a 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.239 Country Album of the Year and I got three nominations 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.560 from that album, Grammys and Grammy nominations. Let me clarify that, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:28.520 and it it changed my life. And in that you know, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.480 I want to say this for your listeners. You know, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.920 my mom always said, like, find your purpose within your purpose. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.520 And so when I was having my rise in country 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.640 music because of a song like Black Like Me, and 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:43.760 because of what we were going through in our country, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.880 and because people in country music were trying to find 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.559 ways to be more inclusive, I didn't take all those 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.800 opportunities for myself. I wanted to make sure that listeners 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:58.400 and my community, my country music community, knew that there 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.360 were other black countries singing is out there that are 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.600 excellent singing country music, like Britney Spencer, like Raina Roberts, 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:09.680 like Tanner Adell, like Madeline Edwards, like Tyr Kennedy, like 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.679 I didn't know Shaboozi at the time, but like Willie Jones. 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.800 Like Willie Jones, there were so many great artists with shod. 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.320 If you don't know who's shod, he is so good. 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.400 And I just want people to feel encouraged to still 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.800 make sure that you stream and listen to all these artists. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.680 Oh no, absolutely, you've definitely shined a light on all 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.680 of that and even you know, and your songs, even 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.120 though you're a country artist, I feel like you play 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:34.360 around and yeah done. 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.480 Absolutely absolutely. I'm a black woman. I listen to all 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.800 things come on making me, Yes, make me. I listened 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:47.840 to Brandy and Monica as well as Dolly Parton. Yes, 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.760 those are my girl, Those are my girls. Like they're 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.080 just such you know, gentle sweet people. 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:56.440 I like that and they love you too. 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:58.440 That means a lot to know that. 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.160 And then it's this is your first headlining tour that 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.200 you're in the God I love now too. I can't 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:04.880 believe this is your first time headlining. 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:06.520 Yes, I can't believe it either. 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:08.000 And it's only been like a weeks and two started 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.480 the time. Yeah yeah, So tell me about how that's 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:11.120 been going for you. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.920 So congratulation, Thank you so much. So I start tour 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.960 this week on Thursday, on the twenty sixth, and I've 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.600 been in rehearsals and working through everything and it is 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.280 going so well. My band, I just am ready to 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.920 slap people in the face with just beautiful and giant 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:31.120 sounds in my set, Like I'm really really excited to 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:31.640 perform for. 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.280 How do you prepare? Like even before that, how do 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:34.560 you know? 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.840 You know? I got my vocal coach, I've got an 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.880 excellent music director, Dez, and we just all just look 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.200 through all of my catalog and try to find the 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.040 songs that are going to touch people, because for me, 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.400 I want people to feel the music. Like it's not 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.080 always about just like how well you can perform, but 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.760 like the vocals and like the music music moves people. 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.520 You know, what's the first song I am good, so 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.400 I'm gonna do Remember her Name, okay, And that's song 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:05.200 is you know I was. I wrote that song thinking 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.560 about Breonna Taylor because I saw all these post things 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.440 say her name, and so I wrote, you know, a 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.600 song called remember her Name, and I was thinking about 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:14.520 her when I wrote that song. 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.200 And you also, you know what other song is amazing women? 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:22.560 Yeah? Women? You know women are after giving birth? Man, 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:27.400 I listen like we are miracle workers. That was one 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.280 of the craziest experiences of my life. And I just 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.160 wanted to celebrate women like people. I love women. I 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.360 celebrate women. I'm not one of those women that are 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.440 just jealous. And if I see someone that is beautiful, 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:41.880 I'm going to compliment them, like. 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.400 You know, you came in here with all the compliments, 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:45.640 like that's just what I do. 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:46.560 You know, because. 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:50.520 I frle spirit. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.560 That means a lot, because I beat myself up after 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:54.440 our first meeting. 0:16:54.520 --> 0:17:00.560 So why, oh yeah, what a time that was. How 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.040 did you feel when they even asked you to come, 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.040 like you said, because they don't normally do country music 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:04.960 at Essence festivals. 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:07.000 That was a couple of years ago. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:11.520 I have been elated that so many black publications are 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.320 starting to take an interest in country music. Like that's 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.080 my whole goal, Like it's for black people to see 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.320 a presence and to go out there and to support 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.560 because it's so so so important. 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.320 It's a not a great storytelling. Yeah, it is country 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:28.200 music more than. 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.800 Yes, and they're in country music. They all have trot 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.679 beats in their songs, So why can't we make a 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:33.760 trap beat country music song? 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.840 And then when Little nas X did come on, it's 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:39.040 like changes, Like. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.359 But people try to act like that wasn't a country song. 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:42.360 It was a country song. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.919 But remember there was like so much controversy over that. 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.439 It was wild to have other country music artists when 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.320 you first started. How how were they accepting of you? 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.560 How was it for you like getting to work with 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.159 other country music artists. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.520