*Fantasia Barrino rose to fame as the winner of the third season of “American Idol” in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, “I Believe,” which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut album, “Free Yourself,” reached Platinum status and garnered three Grammy nominations in 2006.
Barrino played the part of Celie in the Broadway musical “The Color Purple,” for which she won a 2007 Theatre World Award. Her third studio album, “Back to Me,” was released in 2010 and features the single “Bittersweet,” which won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
The seasoned R&B diva is currently on tour supporting her fifth album, “The Definition Of…” and she has received a 2017 Best Traditional R&B Performance Grammy nomination for “Sleeping With the One I Love.”
NBCBLK’s Alex Titus caught up with Fantasia during one of her recent tour stops to get the scoop on her latest project. Below are highlights from their Q&A.
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We have James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. What does the infusion of rock and soul genres mean to you?
Growing up in a musical family exposed to me all different types of genres early on. You got the uncles and aunties who listen to gospel and the blues, jazz and you got the youngins who listen to hip hop and different types of R&B. So in elementary school all I knew was Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Tina Turner, Bonnie Raitt. When Bonnie Raitt’s, “Let’s Them Give Something to Talk About” came out my mother and I were like, “Ok, this is the baddest white girl on the planet now.”
I would go back in the vault and take a Prince record or a Shelia E record and incorporate that in my live show. The label was afraid but I wasn’t. My family wasn’t and my fans weren’t. I’m a soul singer, that will never go away, but God gave me Rock Soul so I took it and ran with it. Now when my band I complete these albums and shows, the people will get to experience music across all boards. Not just R&B, but a little bit of everything.
When was the moment where you said enough is enough?
Things start to happen when an individual takes control of their own destiny. Instead of me just putting somebody in the position to say, “Hey since you’re the manager, so you go find this” or “hey you’re the publicist, you go make this happen!” Now I call it great partnerships, instead of jobs because you become partners with your management, you become great partners with your stylist and you can still have your voice because it all about what you want. And now when they come to me with an idea, I can tell them, “I don’t like it” or “That could work if we could tweak it this way.”
I had to restructure my whole team and get rid of some people. I’m at a place where I will not allow anyone to prostitute my gift. Allow me to express myself the way I want to express myself.
Here’s the thing! Everybody can’t go where you’re going. When you’re growing, everybody’s not growing with you. When everybody on your team has the same mentality of who you used to be, you’re not going to go anywhere. I went to find a whole new team of people who completely get the woman I am now, who and get the Rock Soul thing, because I’m not the same girl I used to be.
You executive produced “The Definition Of…” with Ron Fair. How was it working with such a legendary music mogul?
We fought a lot during this album. As soon as I said that I wanted to document this process and he actually posted cameras in the booth, cameras at the board, at the piano. There’s nothing that this dude can’t do in music. He went and got a full orchestra, called Ricky Minor and all of his friends came up with these beautiful ideas we turned into songs.
Nobody does albums like that anymore. It was something like how Michael teamed up with Quincy Jones back in the day. And when you hear that type of album, it’s a full body of work; it’s like something you can make a play off of. When I leave this world, I want people to take my music and put them in musicals and on a big stage. When you want that type of record, you have to go to Ron Fair.
Do you often think back to the moment when Ryan Seacrest announced you as the winner of American Idol? Were you prepared for your life to change forever?
I went through things coming off Idol, but it was all necessary. I was 19 years old and came up into some money. I was young and dumb, didn’t want to listen, very gullible, and believed everyone had my back. I was looking for love in all the wrong places, relationship wise and business wise. Now I sit here at 32 years old, so much wiser and I thank God for placing me in those situations because now I know what to do, what not to do and I can always help someone else along the way.
There is not a day that goes by where someone doesn’t walk up to me and I find myself speaking God into their life because of the storm and my test. And everything I went through was out for everyone to see. I used to ask my mom, “Why do they do me like this?” It seemed like anything I went through ended up on CNN with a million people talking about.
I’m doing things differently and I keep God first and I allow him to use me for others and because of that the enemy is always going to come against me and break me. But I can’t be broken, I been through too much, but my skin is too thick.
You can read Fanny’s full interview at NBCBLK.
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