On January 8th, 2021 Jazmine Sullivan released her LONG overdue and highly anticipated EP, “Heaux Tales.” The project is a total of 14 tracks, six of which are short “tales” in the form of brief soundbites from various women sharing their take on love and the situations it puts them in at different stages of that experience. This project has three power-house musical features from the likes of Anderson . Paak, H.E.R, and Ari Lennox - who also shares her thoughts on a ‘d-matizing’ lust-uation (I made that word up), in one of the ‘tales’ on the project.
Though Jazmine was adamant in a tweet early January 7th that this project was indeed just that, a project and NOT an album, it listens like a well put together, complete and substantive album. The project carries an audacious yet refreshingly relatable message from start to finish that illustrates a playful, grown, and sexy narrative about a specific phase in a woman’s life. Let’s break it down, shall we!
The Tracks
The tone of the EP is strongly set with the intro track, “Bodies”, a seeming internal monologue walking through a drunken night out with the girls that turns into a blurry one night stand with the latest in her long list of men she’s invited into her ‘loving bed’. The production on the song is repetitive and simple with a periodic “spiraling” sound effect that mirrors the questioning tone about the events of the night and plea to ‘get it together”. This reverberation reinforces the effect of a constant cycle of drunken actions leading to an ever-increasing body count.
Antoinette’s Tale is the first commentary we hear explaining the process of reclaiming one’s body and the agency of the things a woman chooses to do with it. Antoinette talks about the fragility of the male ego concerning the idea of a woman exploring her sexuality just as boldly as a man does in our society. She touches on how this plays a role in the often false perception of how and who has control of the image and practical expression of feminine sexuality.
Anoinette’s Tale is a perfect setup for the second single Jazmine dropped from the project in November of 2020, “Pick Up Your Feelings”, which represents taking back your power after infidelity preceded by many second chances and broken promises in a relationship. The “I’m-moving-on-and-don’t-even-think-about-calling-me” tone is conveyed uniformly through the impassioned performance and writing that seems to effortlessly float on top of the fast-paced rhythm.The cadence is only slowed down during the bridge that matches the vulnerability Jazmine expresses in her lyrics about closing her heart, her recognition of deserving and wanting more, and the pain caused by settling for less. This sentiment of vulnerability ends as abruptly as it began as the pace quickly picks back up to reinforce that what’s done is done and she’s on to the next and isn’t looking back. The instruction is clear: Leave the key and pick up the feelings at the door!
Ari Lennox’s Tale recalls a whirlwind experience with a blind type of passion she shared with a man that sets the stage for the next two tracks, “Put It Down” and “On It.” These two crowd favorites outline what good “lovin” will get a brotha who may live with his mama. Jazmine plays with the sing-rap style coined by Drake in “Put It Down” as she talks about letting lust lead the way at any expense. The track serves almost as the antithesis of the message Destiny’s Child gave us in ’99 where instead of asking if he could pay the bills and complaining about running up the mileage in her car, Jazmine is offering a reward for those types of antics as long as the late-night lovin is nice and “nasty.”
“On It”, featuring Ari Lennox continues the ‘lust over everything’ vibe in an almost ironic and satirical way as the two singers beautifully croon over lyrics that seem to not match the slow ballad-like tone of the music. The track is definitely characteristic of Ari’s signature dry, serious yet hilarious personality that we’ve often seen in her Instagram Lives about love and anything on her mind at the time. The song is explicit but can easily fly under the censorship radar if you’re just casually listening to the beauty of the delivery and slow and seeming romantic production. Definitely a chuckle-worthy track.
Donna’s Tale told over a church organ lets it be known (in her opinion) that this love and sex thing is ALWAYS transactional, baby. You have to give and strategize to get what you want out of a relationship with a man and that’s just that on that! Negotiation is the name of the game and this message is carried over in track eight, “Pricetags” featuring Anderson .Paak; a soulful song that just feels gooood and so ‘classic R&B Jazmine.’ As the only male voice on the project, Anderson shares the “plight” of a man giving and paying for everything his woman wants even when she doesn’t even know what she wants or changes the criteria just as quickly as the wind changes direction.
Rashida’s Tale sets our Heaux Tales train on a different track as it reflects on love lost leading to Jazmine’s first single released from the project in August of 2020, “Lost One.” This song acknowledges that not all breakups and breakdowns in a relationship are the other person’s fault and sometimes you can lose out on a good thing prematurely because of your own antics.
Track 12, “The Other Side” feels almost like a sequel to “Mascara” from Jazmine’s 2015 album Reality Show. This track is almost like a Part 2 of the story about getting what you want by staying ‘club-ready’ with a tube of mascara on deck even on a trip to the grocery store. Though the end goal is the same, material gratification, the perspective on the reality of how to get that in “The Other Side” is broader, more mature, and a little more sober-minded. The attitude from the first to the second track evolves from “I’m poppin, getting everything I want. Don’t hate” to the tone of, “I just want to make it to the place where my dreams are reality and hope this strategy gets me there.”
in “The Other Side” Jazmine goes deeper in the thought process of a woman who is pondering the next steps when it comes to how to pay the bills, get every material thing she’s dreamed about, and most importantly, the better life she’s always wanted. In the end, like “Mascara,” the means to those material ends is in keeping the figure right for a “rapper” or “baller” that will give her all she could ever want on a silver platter.
The final chapter of the ‘Heaux Tales’ begins with vulnerability about the insecurities that can arise within a relationship in an ‘Instagram’ world with Amanda’s Tale. Amanda touches on the darker side of placing one’s value solely in sex acknowledging that “in one way it is empowering in another way it’s sad” to know that your true self, independent of sex isn’t enough when sex is valued above all else. The proceeding song, “Girl Like Me” featuring H.E.R goes deeper into this sentiment revealing how sometimes empty flings and surface-level connections don’t negate the residual effects of heartbreak, feeling unwanted, rejected, and just not enough in a society that only values a certain archetype of beauty, ‘perfection’ and femininity.
This final ballad serves as a full-circle connection to the intro with the plea to slow down and ‘get it together’ when it comes to the frequent sexual escapades. The song also could be seen as a sort of reverse forshadowing or prequel to the intro that highlights the backstory in the making of the “heaux” we meet in the first tracks of the project.
In H.E.R’s first verse on the song she reveals how trends and the expectation of meeting certain beauty standards or maintaining a particular image leaves you a loser when you feel like you have to bend who you are to get the affection you want. The script of the project leading up to this point kind of flips completely with this song. The vibe evolved from boasting about the exciting wiles of being the “heaux” to a little reluctance and resentment of the label; outlining the entrapping reality of being ‘forced’ into assuming a character to get just a piece of what you want out of the kind of ‘love’ offered today by the men that cross their path.
The Verdict
“Heaux Tales” is an honest and authentic portrayal of the rollercoaster ride of being a woman in a society where sex is king yet sexuality in practice is demonized or praised depending on the appendage between one’s legs. It rawly documents the full spectrum of emotions a woman may go through as a “recovering heartbreak kid” and/or someone working through a “heaux phase” — feeling empowered by taking back her sexuality and doing “what the men do” and loving it to feeling caged by the same act as the perception of doing so garners negative feedback that stifles when it once liberated.
The writing and organization of the project takes us on a journey that has unexpected twists. We begin on a triumphant note with “Pick Up Your Feelings” as we vibe to and resonate with the idea of reclaiming our time and power from partners who don’t respect or value it. “Pick Up Your feelings” proclaims boldly and clearly that a woman’s self-worth is held above the memories of “better times” and hopes for a favorable outcome tomorrow that may never come to fruition.
We continue this high fully indulging in the fun that can come with lusty flings and erotic pleasure with “Put It Down” and “On It” but remind ourselves that love in most cases is transactional and we as women have to make sure we ‘get ours’ in more ways than one. As with all highs, we come down with the reality check of “Lost One”, “The Other Side” and “Girl Like Me.” The second half of the EP reminds us that one-night stands and temporal pleasures don’t erase the sting of the loss of genuine love and don’t satiate the desire to truly be wanted for who we are outside of the physicality we bring to a romantic relationship.
Amanda’s Tale and “Girl Like Me” hits the nail on the head when it comes to the often conflicting dual realities of embracing sexual feminine power in today’s society where on one side it feels great and boosts the self-image but also tears it down when met with grief and judgment on how it’s done. Though it’s a sobering message to finish the EP with, it makes it all the more impactful and solidifies it as a high-quality project fully reflective of the times and worthy of being added to your library.
All in all, I give this a solid 10 out of 10 for the high-caliber of storytelling that sonically brings us back to the old school, traditional artistry of R&B mixed with new school flavor. Jazmine does an incredible job of staying true to the authenticity of origin R&B while keeping it fresh and relatable through the subject matters explored that are so relevant to the modern woman. Worth the listen.
