Jazmine Sullivan’s latest album Heaux Tales continues to collect accolades.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has awarded Sullivan with a gold certification for achieving 500,000 equivalent sales units. It is Sullivan’s second album to receive an award from the organization.
Sullivan’s debut album, Fearless, received a platinum certification in April for selling more than one million equivalent units. It previously went gold in December 2015.
Circling back to Heaux Tales, the album is proving that it is a critically-acclaimed body of work. It won Best R&B Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards in April.
Sullivan also earned a Grammy for the album’s platinum-selling single “Pick Up Your Feelings” (Best R&B Performance). She went home with two trophies, marking her first time ever winning at Music’s Biggest Night.
“I wrote this project to deal with my own shame and unforgiveness around some of the decisions I made in my twenties that weren’t favorable,” Sullivan said in her acceptance speech.
“But what it ended up being was a safe space for Black women to tell their stories, for us to learn from each other, laugh with each other and not be exploited at the same time and that’s what I’m most grateful for. Shout-out to all Black women who are just living their lives and being beautiful.”
Sullivan released Heaux Tales on Jan. 8, 2021. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart, selling 43,000 equivalent units in its first week.
In addition to “Pick Up Yor Feelings,” Sullivan gained RIAA certifications for tracks such as “Girl Like Me” featuring H.E.R. and “On It” featuring Ari Lennox. Both songs, which appear on Heaux Tales, achieved gold status this year.
Rated R&B spoke with Bongo ByTheWay, the producer of “Girl Like Me,” about creating the song.
“This is an amazing song that people needed to hear, the same way people needed to hear [Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion’s] ‘WAP.’ I say people needed to hear that because we need to hear things that push the envelope,” he said. “‘Girl Like Me’ is the antithesis of ‘WAP.’ It’s the other side of the coin and those girls needed to be heard, too. That was definitely one of my favorites and probably the best learning example.”
Heaux Tales earned multiple awards ahead of Grammy night, including a BET Award (Album of the Year), a Soul Train Award (Album of the Year) and an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Album). It was also No. 1 on Rated R&B’s 30 Best R&B Albums of 2021 list.
In January 2022, Sullivan released Heaux Tales, Mo’ Tales: The Deluxe, an expanded version of the original album that featured five new songs and five new tales, including a tale from Sullivan herself.
On Valentine’s Day, Sullivan kicked off her Heaux Tales Tour to support her album. She played in 25 cities across North America, including Seattle, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Toronto, and her hometown Philadelphia.
Additionally, she played at a few major U.S. festivals such as Essence Festival of Culture, Roots Picnic, Lollapalooza and most recently Made In America.
On Oct. 9, Sullivan will co-headline ONE Musicfest in Atlanta, Georgia. Ashanti, Sevyn Streeter, Mereba, Bilal, Tweet, Alex Isley, J Howell and others are scheduled to perform that day as well.
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Before that, Sullivan will appear on season 22 of NBC’s The Voice, which premieres Monday, Sept. 19, at 8 p.m. She will join John Legend’s Team Legend as a battle advisor.
“I’m just so excited that she’s just here to share her journey with our artists because so many of them look up to her,” Legend told E!’s Daily Pop in an Interview.
“With my story, it’s just about perseverance,” said Sullivan. “Just keep going, keep going. You never know when that moment is going to happen for you, but you got to be true to yourself. You got to keep doing your thing and know who you are, not change that. And then eventually, like you said, people will star to come to you.”
Sullivan will also appear on Legend’s eighth album, LEGEND, on a song called “Love.” The album releases Sept. 9.
Revisit Jazmine Sullivan’s album Heaux Tales below.
