(ominous music)
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- [Narrator] 2021 was sweet to Jazmine Sullivan.
This queen isn't your average artist.
(camera shutter clicks)
After six years away from putting out music,
Jazmine stepped on everyone's necks and feelings,
when she returned to the scene
with her multi-platinum,
multi-award-winning album,
"Heaux Tales."
Hit after hit,
award after award,
and countless fashion slays,
Jazmine had all of 2021 on-lock.
"Heaux Tales,"
the 35-year-old's much anticipated EP,
released on January 8th, 2021,
had fans salivating the moment the star told us
new music was on the way.
Upon its release,
the EP debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200,
making it Jazmine's highest-charting release.
The first single,
a ballad entitled "Lost One,"
hit the airwaves in August, 2020,
followed up by, "Pick up Your Feelings,"
in November, 2020,
spending 52 weeks on the charts,
peaking March 30th, 2021.
Her third single, "Girl Like Me,"
with Grammy award-winning artist H.E.R.,
hit the airwaves January 6th, 2021,
marking the first time Jazmine duetted with a woman
on one of her own recordings.
It would also mark another moment,
when the two shared the stage,
as they both opened up last year's Super Bowl,
where Jazmine performed the national anthem.
Black girl magic for all the world to see,
and a perfect moment to shine a light
on Jazmine's new album, "Heaux Tales,"
which was in essence,
a testament to the trials, tribulations
and trifling experiences Black women have endured,
featuring H.E.R. and Ari Lennox,
who she performed with at the 2021 BET Awards.
It was Jazmine's ability to so flawlessly deliver
honest, candid emotions to the masses,
that made the project so impactful.
She told Rolling Stone,
"When I'm making music and I'm in a studio,
it really feels so personal.
I'm just literally telling my story and it's for me.
I know people are going to hear it,
but it's just me getting out these thoughts
and these feelings that are inside of me."
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Jazmine's triumphant return to the charts
was the ultimate setup for a slew of awards.
Jazmine and "Heaux Tales" earned two
2021 Soul Train Music Awards
for Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
and Album of the Year,
three 2022 NAACP Image Awards
for Outstanding Female Artist,
Outstanding Album,
and Outstanding Soul R&B Song for "Pick up Your Feelings."
And after 12 nominations,
the singer's first two Grammys of her career,
2022's Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance
for "Pick up Your Feelings."
Now that's how you do it, sis.
(mellow music)
But what made the Philly native's return so much sweeter,
was watching the singer share the success of the EP
with her mother.
Mama Sullivan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019
and would live on to beat the disease.
Jazmine shared her big win
with her biggest fan right by her side,
at the 2021 BET Awards,
where Sullivan won Album of the Year.
"Heaux Tales" not only caught the attention of music lovers,
it also reunited Jazmine
and her friend and fellow superstar, Issa Rae.
In a wishful-thinking tweet
sent out by Sullivan in early 2021,
the two would go on to bless fans
with a deluxe edition of the album called,
"Heaux Tales, Mo' Tales,"
that dropped early 2022,
which features five new cuts,
including a most-interesting tale from Issa herself.
The two have also confirmed that a film is on the way.
After her mother's diagnosis,
Sullivan got involved,
making sure Black women
had more information about breast cancer.
With her personal awareness
that Black women are 40% more likely
to die from breast cancer than White women,
she told Ebony Magazine,
"I really want to make sure that we prioritize our health
and take care of ourselves.
It's about creating solutions
and helping women try to beat breast cancer.
We're encouraging Black women
to go and get mammograms and screenings.
It needs to be a part of their self-care routine,
calling it an extension of the work I do myself
with my music and being a voice for Black women."
That voice,
her spirit,
and her genuine candor,
has us celebrating her return.
Always showing up and representing for the ladies,
we welcome you back,
Jazmine Sullivan.