00:00Hey Leela, welcome to Essence Festival.
00:07Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:09You've been here, performed twice here.
00:11Yes, yes, I've been here twice, so I'm excited to be back.
00:15And then before your performance,
00:17we're also, everybody's talking about Prince,
00:19and I know Prince is an influence of yours.
00:21Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean, I think he's a musical genius
00:24and one of the best artists to ever make music.
00:28So just to be performing at the same time,
00:31the same environment as him, it's just like a blessing,
00:33and I'm so excited.
00:35Did you hear that he said everybody should wear purple?
00:37Oh yeah, he didn't even have to tell me.
00:39I'm already wearing purple.
00:40I've been wearing purple since I was like a baby,
00:42and it's my favorite color, so yeah, I'm prepared.
00:45Your new album, it just came out.
00:48The new album actually is dropping July 8th,
00:50so it's the next couple days, and I'm really excited about it.
00:53It's called Fall For You,
00:55and I personally think it's some of my best work,
00:57so I'm hoping everybody else will feel the same and support
01:00and, you know, enjoy it because I'm enjoying it.
01:03And then how would you describe the new album?
01:05I definitely would describe it as vulnerable
01:09because it's showing more sides to me.
01:12It's showing a deeper, you know, side to my personality,
01:15and, you know, I think it's something on there for everybody.
01:18Speaking of vulnerable, we're going to see a lot of you on R&B Divas.
01:22Are you ready for all that?
01:24Yeah, I'm all ready.
01:25And if I'm not, I better get ready, right?
01:28And then you're showing everything, right, on the show?
01:31I mean, no, I ain't showing everything.
01:33I mean, you know, I got to keep some clothes on.
01:35I mean, in your personal life.
01:37You know, I mean, we're showing enough, yeah.
01:41Yeah.
01:42What made you want to be, like, so, you know, to be on that show?
01:44Because it does open up a whole side that people don't know about you.
01:48What made you want to reveal that side of yourself?
01:50I just wanted people to get a better feel for who I am as an artist
01:53and as a person because, yeah, there's very little information about me.
01:57And then with the show coming out, you'll see that I'm just like the, you know,
02:01girl next door.
02:02And, you know, I'm an artist, but I cry, and I sweat, and I bleed,
02:06and, you know, I'm a human being.
02:09You know what I mean?
02:10And I just think that sometimes artists are not seen in that light.
02:13So this is what gives you an opportunity to see me in a different light
02:17as a person as well as just, you know, not just an artist.
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