SoulBounce: Before this album, Reality Show, you took time off from the music industry. How do you think that time away affected your music and game plan coming back into music?
Jazmine Sullivan: Personally, I think if you take time to deal with yourself you’re just better off period, so because I did take that time off I just felt better. Coming back, I felt like, not a whole new person, but just a better person, having dealt with some issues and to have some time with myself.
SB: I can hear that and understand that, because your music is very honest. You talk about very real issues in your music, from unhealthy relationships to domestic abuse to drug addiction. Is it important to you to talk about the ugly, gritty realities of life that people often want to sweep under the carpet?
JS: Yes, it definitely is. I feel like that’s my connection to people who are listening to my music, my fans, it’s the things that we all go through that aren’t the good things. You know what I’m saying? The things that we struggle with kind of connect us and that’s what I’m about; letting people know that we are pretty much the same.
SB: In “Stupid Girls” you have the lyric, “You have the choice to run after them boys / Or take over the world/ Don’t be a stupid girl.” That lyric hits me every time, because I’ve made those mistakes before in my past, I've had to build up my sense of self. I think of you as someone who speaks the truth and has integrity and honesty in her lyrics, your music has been that kick up the behind that I needed at times. That’s my Jazmine Sullivan experience, but when people reflect on Jazmine Sullivan in years to come, what would you like them to say and feel about you and your music?
JS: I just want people to see that I’m just baring my soul and being honest about my life. The things that I go through I’m not trying to sugarcoat it; it is what it is. Wherever I am in life I want you to know. I feel like it’s therapeutic for me, and it helps other people as well to know, again, that we all experience the same things. Hopefully I’m inspiring in the sense that even if I do get knocked down, if I go through something, I can get back up and we all will get back up if we keep it moving and be successful and do your thing. I hope that it’s inspiring, my story.
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