R&B singer/songwriter Ledisi has a powerful message to share — Let Love Rule.
That's also the title of her 2017 album, an R&B masterpiece that Billboard called "an illuminating expansion of [her] soul-searching songs and powerful vocals." Featuring 15 tracks, which span from hip-hop, Prince-influenced tracks ("High") to "very traditional R&B" ("All The Way"), Ledisi pushes the boundaries of the genre while staying true to its roots, which has again led her to the GRAMMYs.
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With 12 career GRAMMY nominations to her name, including three for the 60th GRAMMY Awards, Ledisi is looking to score her first GRAMMY win this year. But when she was recording the album, she didn't think about awards consideration, but rather the quality of her project.
"I worry about the quality of the work I'm making, that I'm sustaining R&B as well as pushing the envelope for our younger audience to get my music as well and appreciate it because I'm in the middle," Ledisi says. "I like to honor the ancestors as well as the people that are now. … I was hoping for a great song and a great project."
That hard work paid off, earning her 60th GRAMMY nominations for Best R&B Performance for "High," Best Traditional R&B Performance for "All The Way" and Best R&B Album for Let Love Rule, among an esteemed field of nominees such as Daniel Caesar, Bruno Mars and SZA. She proud to be among their ranks.
"It's definitely a great time to be in this category with R&B," Ledisi says. "You have … all these wonderful artists that are doing music that's pushing the envelope for R&B. It says that it's still current and well-received by younger audiences as well as the older audience."
As for the GRAMMY Awards themselves, Ledisi has been marveling at the way it brings diverse artists together in one place, such as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, and Ella Fitzgerald.
"The GRAMMYs is like the Oscars for musicians and songwriters and producers and singers," she says. "Just seeing all those worlds all together in one place at one time. That's what makes the GRAMMYs so special."
And if she wins, there's no doubt she'll find a good home for her GRAMMY statuette (or statuettes).
"Of course there's always a place to put a GRAMMY in your home! Anywhere." Ledisi exclaimed. "Probably follow it around with me everywhere I go for the first week. But if I were to win I definitely have a place for it. I hope I win more than I can give one to my mom and I can keep one."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wow, what a way to wake up.....God.... 3 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/RexRideout?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RexRideout</a>!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LETLOVERULE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LETLOVERULE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HIGH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HIGH</a>!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllTheWay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AllTheWay</a>! Smh... Speechless...THANK YOU. <a href="https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RecordingAcad</a> (a proper thank U later.) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ledisi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ledisi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rontyoungphoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rontyoungphoto</a> <a href="https://t.co/tFRO8lFCwJ">pic.twitter.com/tFRO8lFCwJ</a></p>— ledisi (@ledisi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ledisi/status/935556660231397376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2017</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
