Chrisette Michele’s soulful voice has been in the back drop of some of the more successful rap/sung collaborations over the past few years and now the Grammy-award-winning songstress is ready to release her fourth album, Better this week.
Coming off her 2010 album, Let Freedom Reign, Chrisette hit the reset button on her professional career. She took some much needed time to herself to travel across the globe and her other worldly experiences are among the topics explored during Better.
“I spent some time in Europe. I took some time off to be quiet, which a lot of times you don’t get to do in this industry,” the “Lost Ones” singer recalled. “I found hip-hop over there. People are appreciating our culture when they experience hip-hop. They think about what we look like, how we dress, and what we experience in our daily lives.”
As one of the better voices in R&B, Chrisette’s love for hip hop may be a surprise to some but not to her. Jay-Z’s “Lost Ones” featured the Brooklyn singer and rewarded with her first Grammy. Better is an album that’s aiming to break away from the world of R&B without titles and labels and let good music just be good music.
Chrisette said, “The truth is my heart is in hip hop… It’s in rock… Indie sounds. Sometimes R& B can bore me, but I think it’s important to make sure that I make a mark in R&B in the way it should be made. And to be respectful about what R&B music is.”
Check out what else Chrisette had to say in the video and let us know what you think in the comments below.
You can check out Kyle’s musical coverage on theGrio music page, and follow Kyle on Twitter at@HarveyWins.