H.E.R. releases her first album with 21 songs

H.E.R.'s album cover for "Back of My Mind."

Three years after exploding into the music charts with her first hit "Focus,"  the formerly enigmatic singer/songwriter known as H.E.R., aka Gabrielle Sarmiento Wilson, is finally releasing an album. 

Fresh from winning an Oscar at the 2021 Academy Awards when she won the best song Oscar for “Fight for You,” written for Judas And The Black Messiah, and a Grammy for Best Song for "I Can't Breathe" last March, the 23-year old Filipino American released her first and much anticipated, album, "Back of My Mind," on June 18.

“People always ask me, ‘What’s the message? Where does this come from? Is it personal experience?’” the singer says in a 55-second black-and-white trailer for the project. 

“And it’s always the thoughts that sit in the back of my mind. It’s always things that I’ve been through, things that I go through, or what I feel, and all those thoughts that I’m afraid to say sometimes," she continues. "Things that feel too honest or too vulnerable or too emotional or too aggressive … It’s all of those things that have been in the back of my mind for the past few years since my first project. It’s like a peek into my soul.”

Joining her on collaborations in the 21-track album are fellow artists Ty Dolla $ign, Cordae, Lil Baby, Thundercat, Yung Bleu, DJ Khaled, Bryson Tiller and YG, along with producers like Hit-Boy, KAYTRANADA, Cardiak, Rodney Jerkins, DJ Camper and more.

Days before the album's debut, she unveiled the single, including "We Made It" with Chris Brown, the second track on the album.

The NY Times also did a really good quick review of one of her new songs on the album, which can be viewed here.

“My responsibility as an artist is to say the things that sit in the back of people’s minds because they sit in mine,” she told NPR in an April interview.