Latest Release
- Freudian · 2017
- I Used To Know Her · 2018
- Chilombo · 2020
- Damage - Single · 2020
- Back of My Mind (Apple Music Edition) · 2021
- Heaux Tales · 2021
- Comfortable - Single · 2020
- Slide (feat. YG) - Single · 2019
- Back of My Mind (Apple Music Edition) · 2020
- H.E.R. · 2017
Essential Albums
- Released three months apart in 2018, the two I Used to Know Her EPs, combined here into a full-length, signaled where the R&B singer/multi-instrumentalist was at and pointed to where she’s going. She unveils a new skill, rapping, on “Lost Souls,” a tribute to Lauryn Hill’s classic “Lost Ones,” while “Against Me” and “Feel a Way” revert back to the sensual alt-quiet storm of her self-titled 2017 project. “Could’ve Been,” with Bryson Tiller, scans like a sad follow-up to her joyful duet with Daniel Caesar, “Best Part.” With “Carried Away,” you can hear the then-21-year-old pushing her sound in brand-new, unexpected directions. Her earlier projects’ after-hours, filtered-down synth pads are replaced with the rough, more human edges of acoustic guitar and piano, played by the artist herself. “Hard Place” is the new, livelier sound’s high point, with its mix of low-register verse confessionals and high-flying hook harmonies over a rim-shot-and-shaker beat. On the other end of the spectrum is “Lord Is Coming,” which starts with a spoken-word screed decrying materialism and racism (including immigrant family separations) before building into a haunting classic spiritual, complete with acoustic bass, humming choir, and Revelations-inspired lyrics. Bonus tracks include two collaborations with YBN Cordae (“Racks” and an update of “Love Is Coming”) and a sumptuous live version of “Uninvited,” recorded in London for Apple Music’s Up Next series.
Artist Playlists
- The enigmatic singer makes quiet storm cool again.
- Eye-catching clips that showcase her R&B artistry.
- The enigmatic singer makes quiet storm cool again. Our 2021 Songwriter of the Year.
- R&B classics that keep the R&B virtuoso inspired in quarantine.
- Watch an interview with our 2021 Songwriter of the Year.
Live Albums
- Jazmine Sullivan
- How an incredibly raw and honest anthem came together.
- Featuring conversations with Alicia Keys, Muni Long, and H.E.R.
- Playing back conversations with the biggest artists of 2021.
- A year in the life of Apple Music’s Songwriter of the Year.
About H.E.R.
When Gabriella Wilson wanted to bring her guitar out on her first tour as H.E.R., she got some sideways looks. A young Black woman with a guitar? Singing R&B? In 2017? Kids aren’t gonna get it, people said. For Wilson, though, the gamble was the point: After all, if you don’t prove it can work, people will assume it won’t—especially if you’re a young Black woman. That it did work not only made Wilson a fresh voice in R&B, but a force in helping expand the roles available to any voice that doesn’t fit a familiar mold. Looking back, the guitar was a liability, but it was also a superpower. “That’s why I was able to stand out,” she told Apple Music in 2020. “Because I played, and I kinda didn’t take no for an answer.” Born in 1997 and raised in the Bay Area city of Vallejo, California, Wilson got signed at 14—an experience that helped open her eyes to the ways artists are pressured and warped by the industry. Drawing on a spectrum of classics from Prince and Parliament through Whitney, Mariah, and Lauryn Hill, Wilson’s key tracks—“Focus,” “Slide,” “Slow Down,” “Could’ve Been”—helped codify what traditional, musically minded R&B could sound like in the 2010s and ’20s without ever feeling like a throwback. In 2018, Apple Music named her an Up Next artist; by 2019, she’d won a Grammy; in 2021, she won the Apple Music Award for Songwriter of the Year. For Wilson, it all comes down to confidence. “Sometimes you gotta make people listen,” she says. “You have to make people go, ‘Who is that?’”
- HOMETOWN
- Vallejo, CA, United States
- BORN
- June 27, 1997
- GENRE
- R&B/Soul