The artist is halfway to an EGOT, but shes still a mystery to the masses.
You have to see her live to understand her.
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Her grin gets wider as she builds momentum, curls flying as she headbangs.
Whatever the case, this shit unequivocally slaps.
The same bandmate turns to me, smiling.
You see how she is?
Shell keep going all night if you let her.
He gathers the band for a prerehearsal prayer: Amen …
Were gonna have a hell of a show!
Heck of a show, Wilson counters.
You cant pray and then say hell of a show!
before this experience in her Burbank practice space.
But watching Wilson rip her silver Stratocaster, I get it.
Name an awards show in the past few years and odds are H.E.R.
has coolly graced its stage, face obscured behind a pair of her signature outsize sunglasses.
Hell, she booked her first acting role in theupcomingColor Purplemovie musicalbefore I could finish writing this.
Its not that H.E.R.
is lacking in stans; two sold-out nights at the 18,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl dont lie.
It may or may not surprise you that a search for H.E.R.
Every weekend, we were going out to some festival, she remembers.
Sometimes Con Funk Shun was playing.
I remember seeing Sheila E.s dad perform.
So the producer fromMaurysaw it.
And theMauryshow has to have one positive episode a year.
Like, its a requirement, she says, giggling.
The Wilsons phone rang off the hook theTodayshow, Carson Daly.
By 14, she had signed to RCA Records.
By 19, she had debuted thevibeyH.E.R., Vol.
(Half a point forentertaining Filipino auntie TikTokpost-Grammys, too.)
Wilson says, swiveling in a chair in one of the spaces private studios.
Weve lost sight of whats important, which is the music.
All the same, the industry loves a shtick.
I wonder whether marketing tools like the 24/7 shades are as savvy now as they were when H.E.R.
emerged; maybe theyre part of the disconnect.
Naturally, less than a week afterVol.
1s release, Genius had already outed the singers identity, though she wouldnt confirm it for two years.
Oh, youll get there one day.
Like, everybody doesnt want to be Beyonce!
The awards shows and all that stuff, that was surprising to me.
1 radio singleeven though I got that!
she says, laughing, feeling herself for a moment.
But you dont need that to be worthy of awards and accolades.
You know whats crazy?
I never wanted that, she says.
Oh, thats my snake who passed away, she says matter-of-factly.
His name was Prince Roger.
I would come in the door, like, You good, Mike?
Yeah, his name was Mike.
And he would be up in the light, or maybe hed be on the piano.
Snakes aside, any time she tried to stray off course, it didnt feel right.
Everybody has a different definition of what it is to grow up, she says.
I see that its responsibility.
I never asked for that responsibility, but I worked toward it.
Im human, and I have my days.
But at the end of the day, I live and die by this.
A cover from Marvin GayesWhats Going Onopens the set Wilson is rehearsing today.
From there, its H.E.R.
to get weird with it, to bring the funk the way she does live.
Wilson is heartened by the interest in a weekend of 100 percent R&B.
Not that any other music is fake music, but … you know?
she says, laughing.
The Lights On Festivalcomes to Barclays Center October 21 and 22.
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