We know what you’re thinking. It’s hard to believe H.E.R. only just released her first studio album this past June. Okay fine, maybe that’s not exactly you we’re thinking, but since you are now — let’s talk about it, as well as the fact that for the first time since 2018, she’s back on the road for her Back of My Mind Tour.
Actually, better yet, since the GRAMMY winner just joined Audacy's Poet for a Check In to talk about her album, tour, and more — let’s hear what she has to say about it all.
“I can’t even really put it into words, I’ve been so overwhelmed and so grateful because it’s been so long,” H.E.R. expressed about the feeling of being on tour. “Even before the pandemic I hadn’t been on the road in a while and now that I’m back it feels like the first time.”
She continued, “I feel like this is crazy, so many people are singing all the words to my songs, and just to be up there and having a great time, I missed it you know? It’s a really really great feeling, so I’m just taking it all in.”
When it comes to set list, H.E.R. did admit it can get tricky, especially since as Poet pointed out that since her last tour her catalog has stacked up.
“That has probably been the biggest challenge,” H.E.R. admitted. Adding that in truth, “that’s such a beautiful problem.” Ultimately, as the singer said, “I’m trying to mix it up and put everybody’s favorites in there as much as I can, and even mixing up the the set list from city to city.”
When H.E.R. first started out it was imperative for her it be all about her music and her craft, so much so she’d go on stage in subtle protective disguise, wearing big glasses, chill wardrobe, etc. These days, as Poet pointed out, she’s decided to have her stage presence better match her music and has evolved to become more transparent.
“I mean, you know in the beginning like that was the whole purpose was to just like ‘let’s focus on that,’ that should come first to me. I think the art should always come first, that’s why I do this. It’s for the art and the purity of the lyrics and the message. Now, I think I did that, I think people have gotten to know the music and the art.”
And though as H.E.R. expressed, she’s “learning and figuring out a balance of giving a little bit more, y’know, little by little… so that people that feel connected to my music can feel connected to me as well.”
With that said, that doesn’t come without its challenges, so at the end of the day how does she maintain balance of, as Poet so eloquently put, “keeping you, you and giving us H.E.R.” all while still being true to herself.
While H.E.R. is a stage name for Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, she’s not a persona or somebody she feels as though she has to “turn on.” In fact for Wilson, H.E.R. is her “true self," revealing her music is where she “truly lives.” So when it comes to friends and lovers and music, that’s a space where she can “fully be me.”
If it wasn’t already obvious, one of H.E.R.’s main objectives is to get her craft to speak for what she’s trying to get us to feel. Which in her case is all about things she’s also experienced and been through, knowing somewhere, someone out there will relate.
“It’s all my personal stories, it’s all me. Sometimes it’s therapeutic for me and I’m not even thinking about who’s gonna hear it or you know or how they’re gonna hear it.”
But even with that, plain and simple it’s either “an exaggerated version of the truth, or it’s my story. Or it’s me working through trying to figure out what it is that I’m really feeling, and I think everyone can relate to that thing that’s like ‘I don’t fully know what this is, but this song can put into words’ or it can say ‘I don’t even know what I fell like.’” Which is what H.E.R. feels a calling to do, and for that matter why her latest album is called Back of My Mind.
For H.E.R. Back of My Mind represents “all the things that we’re afraid to say, or we’re afraid to face, or afraid to come to terms to or acknowledge and that’s where I come from in my music.”
Poet and H.E.R. kept the conversation going, and we’re gonna keep it 100, there’s honestly so much more. Obviously you don’t want to miss one second of it, so go ahead an press play and watch the entire interview above.
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