Singer Jazmine Sullivan Captivates The Crowd In Her Hometown Of Philly At The Listening Party For Her Forthcoming 'Reality Show' LP.
All eyes were on Jazmine Sullivan Thursday night as the shimmering songstress stepped into Philadelphia’s legendary Milkboy Studio to kick off the listening party for her long awaited come-back album, Reality Show. As the sultry singer made her way around the room she was sure to make a stop at almost (if not every) person in attendance to introduce herself and thank them for coming.
While the weather outside was numbingly cold, the feels inside the studio were nothing but warm and welcoming. Other than the window sills being adorned with white Christmas lights, the lighting in the room was dim and set the tone for a very close and intimate evening. After an hour or so of sipping Reality Show-inspired cocktails and indulging on hors d'oeuvres by Chef Tee, artists, producers, family and friends congregated around Sullivan as she revealed her favorite tracks from the new album. Sullivan smiled humbly as the audience vibed, sang and applauded to her instant classics such as “Mascara”; “Let it Burn”; “If You Dare”; “Hood Love” and “Stanley.”
Looking around the room, there were a few very familiar faces. Dear White People’s Tessa Thompson, music producers Anthony Bell, Dilemma and JoeLogic, and Philly’s up-and-coming r&b supergirl group Good Girl were all in attendance to show their support, and from the looks on the faces around the room, no one was disappointed.
When we asked producer JoeLogic about how he got involved with crowd favorite “Stupid Girls,” he told us that it all just sort of fell together:
“I had been engineering for Jaz for the whole album, but Dilemma, Matt and I had only been working together for about 4-5 months. When we first started coming up with the track for what ended up being “Stupid Girl”, we thought it might be something that would fit the vibe of this album. Jaz was in the building working with another producer in a different studio, and came over and asked to listen to some tracks her management had sent over. When we were going through the tracks, and I just dropped in the track for what became “Stupid Girls”, she stopped me and asked what that was and I said it was something I had done with my partners. She told me to send it to her and two days later she sent me the finished song.”
Philly native Dilemma talked to us about how the track actually came about:
“Joe and I might have mixed two days together [laughs] but from what I remember, Joe & I were working at MilkBoy one night and we decided to do something different. For “Stupid Girl” he played me the bassline which was played by Matt Wong and it put me in the mind set of a James Bond movie - mysterious but cool - so we just went with it. We didn't have any artist in mind. After we finished the track, we sent it to a few people/artist and didn't hear anything back. That's when I told him he should play it for Jazmine. She loved it!”
After the album sampling, Sullivan took to the stage to perform “Stupid Girls” and “Forever Don’t Last.” The range of her vocals is so profound that, at times, it sounded like there were two different people on stage; her delivery was flawless. As she finished off her final song, there were a few minutes of utter shock and silence, followed by a flood of applause coming at Sullivan from the entire room. It’s been a long time since many of us have heard real, authentic, unapologetic r&b music - and we’re so glad to have Jazmine Sullivan back.
