After an end to her hiatus, R&B artist Jazmine Sullivan has added an unexpected twist to her long-awaited EP “Heaux Tales,” leaving fans feeling empowered and open-minded. Sullivan is nothing short of a storyteller as the EP depicts various lifestyles of women by exploring sexuality and difficult conversations that women often encounter throughout their lives.
Sullivan’s EP features well-known artists such as Ari Lennox, Anderson .Paak and H.E.R. She is known for creating music centered on her unremitting heartbreaks, wishful thinking for future relationships, and past experiences. Sullivan’s sole purpose was to create a relatable EP with songs that conveyed the idea of power in reclamation through love and femininity.
In a recent interview with Vulture magazine, Sullivan said she envisioned an EP of intimate confessions. “Heaux Tales” represents the candor of a group chat with your girlfriends embodied through monologues and songs. “I thought about the conversations I have with my girlfriends, my mom, different people like that,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan tweeted two days after her EP’s release, “If you find yourself looking down on anyone from these tales then you’re missing the point of the project. Let ye without sin casts the first heaux stone. We are all a work in progress trying to figure this life out. Let’s extend grace to ourselves and each other.”
The EP pushes the good girl/bad girl connotations in a patriarchal society to the side with the opening song “Bodies.” The patriarchy deems to control a woman’s decisions and sexuality as a means to make women feel powerless; Sullivan’s EP was created to do the opposite. This song mirrors accountability as it captures that “walk of shame” feeling that women encounter after a long night at the club ends in a doubtful situation.
“Antoinette’s Tale”explicitly portrays the patriarchal society that is enforced on women. She says men cannot handle a woman who takes the same liberties as them. “Their egos are often way too fragile to ever handle a woman who owns and has any real agency over her body.”
While “Pick Up Your Feelings”expresses the act of finally leaving a toxic companion who no longer serves a purpose in your life. In “Put It Down,”Sullivan transcends from letting a toxic companion go to letting lust cloud her clearer judgment. Another most listened to song is “On It,”which showcases her sultry vocals featuring Ari Lennox. Their voices together shape the song as they sing about getting their lover to “prove why you deserve it.”
Sullivan transitions from an immoral and empowering aspect to “Girl Like Me”with heart-wrenching lyrics joined by H.E.R. This song closes out the EP portraying the reflection period at the end of a hard break-up leaving a woman with insecurities and questions.
“Heaux Tales” was crafted for any type of woman who has gone through trials and tribulations with love and lust. Sullivan makes known lyrically that her EP is for everyone who has undergone ravenous desires and invincibility during vulnerable moments in life.