Rising R&B star H.E.R. had a successful night at the 61st Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, nabbing two golden gramophones: Best R&B Album for her EP “H.E.R” and Best R&B Performance for “Best Part” with Daniel Caesar.
“So first thing I wanna say is this is unbelievable and second, it’s not even an album. It’s an EP!” the 21-year-old artist said in her acceptance speech after winning Best R&B Album.
“I’m speechless right now. I’m holding back tears,” the first-time nominee and winner said.
H.E.R. was also nominated for Album of the Year (for compilation album, “H.E.R”), Best New Artist, and Best R&B Song (for “Focus”).
Wearing her signature dark sunglasses paired with a vibrant fluorescent yellow ensemble, the half-Filipina and half-Black Bay Area native (real name Gabriella “Gabi” Wilson) seemed at home on the Grammy stage. She also took to the stage as a performer, delivering a soulful rendition of “Hard Place” from her now-award-winning EP.
As previously reported in the Asian Journal, the talented H.E.R. (which stands for Having Everything Revealed) has had a busy last few months and is on track to become a mainstay in R&B.
In April, she will perform both Sundays of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and is currently working on a debut album.
“It feels like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” H.E.R. told the Recording Academy. “It’s so easy to question your art, even to question what you’re doing, to question the path that you’re on. But this is such confirmation to me. It just feels amazing. It feels like I found my objective and I’m fulfilling it. I’m so blessed.”
H.E.R. wasn’t the only Fil-Am to win a Grammy on Sunday. Filipino-American record producer and songwriter !llmind (real name Ramon Ibanga, Jr.) won Best Urban Contemporary Album for his work on Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s collaboration album “Everything is Love.”
“Woke up to my first Grammy win,” the Brooklyn-based producer wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m just so thankful for all the people in my life who truly believe in me. To me, this doesn’t make me better than anyone else. All it does is prove that when you never EVER give up on something you truly feel in your heart, things will eventually manifest.”
