H.E.R. playing her Fender Surf Green Duo Sonic Offset as part of a new collaboration with the guitar company
At the dawn of her career, upcoming R&B singer H.E.R. had a lot to prove: before any of her music was released, the emerging artist made the decision to not reveal her face to the public, forcing listeners to only focus on the music. Rather than seeing this as hiding, H.E.R. depicts this decision as a way to force listeners to understand who she is through the music she releases. With impeccable vocal strength, personal lyric writing, and a heavy guitar influence, H.E.R. has found an audience compelled by the stories she tells and the strength of her talents. I sat down with H.E.R. to talk about identity, influences, and her participation in Fender’s recent Creative Video Series:
BD- What were your earliest influences that brought you into music?
HER- Throughout my entire life my father has been a huge influence, because he plays guitar he is just a huge music lover. We always had lots of instruments in the house. That was kind of like the starting point of me getting into music. It was always around me, but I always listened to a lot of older music like Prince, even like Lauryn Hill, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson, and of course Stevie Wonder… a lot of old school artists really influenced me to get into music.
BD- When did these influences transition into a potential career in music?
H.E.R.- honestly it was really, really early. I used to do talent competitions and things like that when I was as young as six, seven, eight. I would play with my dad’s band after music festivals and stuff like that. It was kind of a given almost, music was always in me and it was what I wanted to do all the time. The other kids were playing outside and I wanted to stay in and play music, hanging out with my dad and his band.
BD- when did you start playing the guitar?
HER- I started playing the blues when I was seven years old. Just throughout the years I started getting into more rock music when I was listening to Eddy Van Halen, and then I started listening to Carlos Santana and some jazz guys. I was really exploring guitar throughout the years; I went through different phases, listening to new artists, and working to find myself, up until today.
BD- Your music has frequently been classified as R&B, how have you incorporated the guitar into this style of music?
HER- I think the guitar is such a cool instrument because there are a lot of plug ins and effects that you can make a guitar sound like anything, even a voice almost. That’s kinda what I did in some songs, like if you listen to Volume 1 there are some chords in there that make it very vibey, very current so I found ways to make sounds in the guitar to match what I wanted to do. I believe that there is a bit of R&B in everything, I wouldn’t box it.
BD- There has been a lot of speculation about your identity, but it has only been real speculation other than the music that you release. How do you work to maintain that while touring and releasing videos?
HER- Honestly I tell people all the time that I’m not working to hide or working to keep my identity a secret. I’m working to make the music the focus. I’m working to make sure that the music is heard only by the sound and the words that I’m saying. I don’t feel like I’m hiding at all, over time you’ll start to see more, like the video that I just released you can see a bunch of me, but I’m still telling a story.
BD- Has this changed the development of the records you release?
HER- Absolutely! I don’t know that it would be heard differently if you saw my face, but sometimes we listen with our eyes instead of our ears. It’s made it so that all you can listen to is the message, and it is easier to receive that way in the most pure, raw form.
BD- Now with that the public has seen less aspects of your personal life, yet you maintain really personal lyrics. Has that been a coincidence or is it a result of the decision?
HER- Yeah it was the decision to release music without a face attached to it with the idea of being able to be strong enough to share my stories with the world and hope that other people felt the same. And you know obviously other people have felt the way I have, but when I write these songs it is a little bit scary, telling your entire life and telling the stories and being super honest and super vulnerable in my music. My identity is kind of revealed because my music is who I am; these stories are who I am.
BD- You just released the Volume 2 B-sides, can you talk a little bit about the project?
HER- I was excited to drop this because I made these songs during volume 2, but they didn’t go on the project though I felt they needed to be heard. The songs are very progressive I would say, the sound is a little different than Volume 1 and Volume 2, it’s a little glimpse of what is to come on my album but the sounds are different there’s a few different elements. Its very new its very different coming from me, and that’s why I wanted to call it the B-sides because I want people to feel like they’re seeing another side of me
BD- Now you recently got tapped by Fender to be a part of their new creative video series, can you describe this experience?
HER- Yeah me and the director who is super talented did this video, it was super fun. I really just was excited to tell my story and talk about the journey that my guitar has taken me on and my background of playing. I love to talk about that part of my history.
BD- Any other projects for fans to look forward to?
HER- Yeah, I’m working on my album right now but I have my tour coming up. It’s my first headlining tour in November. It is really just between touring and recording, my album, hopefully will be released early next year.
Check out H.E.R.’s recent participation in Fender’s creative video series below: