Ahead of her debut album, the two-time Grammy-winning half-Fil-Am prodigy shares a mixtape that includes previous songs as well as new tracks
2019 is shaping up to be quite the year for the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter H.E.R.
On Friday, August 30, the 22-year-old Vallejo, California native H.E.R. (born Gabriella Wilson) released a compilation mixtape called “I Used to Know Her.”
The release of “I Used to Know Her” arrives ahead of her hotly-anticipated debut album which is slated to be released later this year.
This compilation mixtape features previously released tracks like “Hard Place” and “I’m Not OK” as well as new ones like the dreamy “Something Keeps Holding Me Back” and “Good to Me” that feature the young artist’s unyielding vocal and instrumental talent.
As previously reported by the Asian Journal, H.E.R. nabbed two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album for the titular EP “H.E.R.” and Best R&B Performance for the song “Best Part” with Daniel Caesar at the Grammy Awards ceremony in February.
In April she headlined a stage at the Coachella Music and Art Festival and has since been taking the music festival circuit by storm, performing at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Essence Fest in New Orleans and the B.E.T. Experience in Los Angeles.
She’s even curated her own music festival, the Lights On Festival, which promises performances from big names in R&B like herself, Caesar, Jhene Aiko, Ari Lennox and more. The festival will be held at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, California on Saturday, September 14.
In the age of social media and increased access to celebrities’ personal lives, H.E.R. has maintained a unique, largely anonymous persona, which is intentional.
Earlier this year in a profile for the Asian Journal, the half-Filipina, half-black music prodigy noted that for her, the music always comes first, and that “the gimmicks, the looks, the glitz…don’t really matter to me.”
“I definitely don’t try to do what everyone else is doing at the moment,” she said. “I try to trust my gut and trust what’s got me this far, which were honest songs that I was afraid to do. Sometimes the most daring thing — the thing that you’re most afraid to do — is the thing that’s gonna get you from point A to point B. You have to dare to take risks and dare to be you. When you try to be successful trying to be someone else, the success eventually runs out.”
“I Used to Know Her” is available now on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal or wherever you stream music.
