Jazmine Sullivan Honors Black Women in Her Grammys Acceptance Speech
Finally, Jazmine Sullivan is a Grammy winner.
The singer took home awards for Best R&B Album for Heaux Tales during tonight's telecast and Best R&B Performance “Pick Up Your Feelings” prior to the televised ceremony. (The latter was a tie; she shares the victory with Silk Sonic.) With 15 nominations under her belt, these mark Sullivan's first-ever Grammy wins. Fans will agree that the honor is long overdue for the artist, who has been releasing music for over 10 years.
Dressed in a black and white printed suit and rectangular sunglasses, Sullivan almost didn't believe she won when Billy Porter announced her name from the Grammys stage. As she received her trophy, the singer discussed the inspiration behind her album and shouted out “Black women who are just living their lives, being beautiful.”
Read her full speech below.
I'm so grateful to be up here. Shoutout to H.E.R. for wearing these glasses in the dark, girl, I fell like 10 times tonight so you the GOAT for that.
I think that I wrote this project to deal with my own shame and unforgiveness around some of the decisions that I made in my 20s that weren't favorable. And, thank you. But what it ended up being was a safe space for Black women to tell their stories. For us to learn from each other, laugh with each other, and not be exploited at the same time. And that's what I'm most grateful for. So shoutout to all Black women who are just living their lives, being beautiful. I love you all.
Thank you to everybody who helped me create Heaux Tales, to the producers, the additional writers, to RCA and Sony Music, to my management, my mother and father who I love dearly and I can't wait to see, my friends and family, everybody back in Philly, my fans, my man, everybody. Thank you so much, I appreciate this.
Sullivan released Heaux Tales in January 2021 and followed up with a deluxe edition this February. The highly acclaimed LP is a celebration of Black women that includes intimate, personal stories about love, heartbreak, sex, and dating.
Sullivan explained to NPR last year, “I just wanted to tell the untold stories of women. I feel like society makes it seem like we have to be perfect and present ourselves a certain way to be considered a good woman. We're so very layered and multidimensional and we have stories to tell, and they're all not great stories but that's what makes us who we are.”
Watch her full speech here.
[Heaux Tales ended up being] "a safe space for Black women to tell their stories, for us to learn from each other, laugh with each other, and not be exploited ... shout out to all Black women who are just living their lives and being beautiful." - Jazmine Sullivan at the #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/n2oVPzd2gL
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 4, 2022
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