Enroute to releasing her sophomore album, I Forgive You, Cynthia Erivo stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel New York to talk with John Mingione, not just about the making of the new album, but also Erivo's unmatched talent, and the peace that her voice has brought to John's home over the past year.
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"You're truthfully one of the most talented singers that I've ever seen in my life," John shares, admitting that the music of Erivo and Wicked has helped anchor himself and his fiancée, who is a nurse practitioner. "I'm just blown away anytime I see you perform. It just gets better every single time. I mean that."
Carefully curated by Cynthia herself, I Forgive You, features co-writing from Erivo on every track and is filled with captivating vocals and relentless talent. Split into 4 unique sections, Erivo explores "a breakup, something new, the deepening of a connection, and acceptance," on the new album and dives into it all with openness and vulnerability.
"I think it's the vulnerability. I think it's the messiness. There's the humanity that I think people don't necessarily see under all of the proper, presentation," she says of I Forgive You. "I am just a human who happens to do a lot of things, and it takes a lot of me to do so."
Throughout the 20 tracks, Erivo shares all of herself, offering intimate feelings and emotions on songs like "She Said."
"It sort of reveals the queerest part of me," Cynthia reveals to John. "I think maybe that is one of the songs that I was nervous to release because it really is about me singing about another woman... To be able to sing that vulnerably about what another woman's love feels like, I think that was a sort of a vulnerable thing to be able to put out. So I was kind of nervous, but I'm very, very proud of it because I love the song so much. I think it's really beautiful."
For more from Cynthia Erivo on I Forgive You, her experience with Wicked, working with Ariana Grande, and more, listen to the full interview above.