Tracee Ellis Ross is “reaching out to touch” your heart with her new song debut!
The Black-ish actress is starring in a new film, The High Note, where she portrays a legendary singer named Grace Davis with a decades-long career navigating the current music industry. Sound familiar? Yeah, I think her mom knows a little something about that.
Since the movie is about a singer, of course the movie is bound to include songs and live stage performances of said songs. Here’s the thing—there’s no lip syncing involved because Tracee sung all of her own songs!
On Thursday night, Tracee hopped on Instagram Live and debuted her first ever song, which is quite the big deal when you’re the daughter of a legendary singer. In her adorably endearing way, Tracee clearly expressed her eagerness to debut her “secret,” with an excited nervousness that was so acute, her “feet [were] numb.”
“This is a movie that I chased,” Tracee noted. “I wanted this role so deeply, that I chased it! I chased it! Because Grace Davis is a singer. She is a big music icon and this role meant that I…get to sing.”
In the middle of setting up her big news, her mom Diana Ross jumped onto the live session, causing a huge “Hi Mom!” reaction in Tracee, naturally.
“My mom, who is on [watching this live session], is Diana Ross,” Tracee continued. “Whether consciously or unconsciously, as a kid, somehow, I took that dream of mine to sing and I hid it. I hit it away [and] I got so scared to sing that it became this dream that I was afraid of. At 47 years old, I faced that dream and I sang.”
There is a parallel here as the character Grace is also tackling the challenges of reviving her career as a black woman over 40 in the music industry.
In the film, Tracee recorded six songs and debuted her first-ever song, “Love Myself” (which is Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins!) right for her viewers watching the live session. For the record, I caught an advanced screening of the movie and the soundtrack does have some cute bops and ballads.
Along with Tracee, The High Note is directed by Nisha Ganatra and stars Dakota Johnson, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Zoë Chao, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard and Ice Cube and debuts on Video On Demand (VOD) on May 29. “Love Myself” is now available to stream on participating platforms.
To watch the full replay of Tracee’s IG Live session, hit the play button below: