Jennifer Hudson has sat down with Apple Music's Zane Lowe to talk about her career and her new Christmas album ‘The Gift of Love'.
During the conversation Hudson breaks down her favourite Christmas covers and shares insights about her holiday originals. Throughout the conversation, she talks about collaborating with Common on a new Christmas song, her evolution as an entertainer, and what being an EGOT means to her.
You can watch the full interview below:
We've pulled out some key quotes from the interview below so you can read some of the highlights:
Jennifer Hudson Tells Apple Music About Her Experience Recording Her Own Version Of ‘Hallelujah.'
Jennifer Hudson: First, it is my favourite song and my favourite song to sing. And as I always say, right before I sing it brings me so much peace, and I hope it does the same for others when I sing it or perform it or whatever. And so, that is the thing that to me is the gift of that song. It's just like this in the beginning with the who's, to me, that's the heaven's call. And I know people have their different meanings of the song and I'm like, “Well, you can't tell me what my ‘Hallelujah' is for.”
Zane Lowe: That's what's so beautiful about it is it's so spiritually adaptable.
Jennifer Hudson: Yeah. Yes. Exactly. And we all have our own interpretation of things. And so, I don't know, it's like a …
Zane Lowe: There's something in it that's intangible, right?
Jennifer Hudson: Yes. And it's a song that forever evolves. I mean, it just takes a life on its own each and every time. And when I recorded it, I'm like, “I wanted to have the live feel to it and where you feel like you're almost in the space with it, or it's breathing and growing in that moment. I want it to feel authentic.”
Zane Lowe: It is a beautiful and version of a wonderful song. And I can imagine that when you're working with a song where the structure is so malleable. ‘Little Drummer Boy,' you can make your own structure out of it, but there's rhythm and dynamics.
Jennifer Hudson: Yes.
Zane Lowe: Hallelujah, you are being led by spirit and feeling.
Jennifer Hudson: You better tell it. Yes.
Zane Lowe: And so, how do you know when it's the one for you, someone who holds yourself at the highest level in terms of finding authentic performance, working with a song that is not defined by any structure? Can you find some words to describe how we even get to hear this version in recorded form and how you knew it was the one that you were happy with?
Jennifer Hudson: I got to go back to what Aretha would say. It's in the feeling. It's like you feel it. And when we got ready to do the song, it was like, “Who's going to do it?” Originally, David Foster was supposed to. Every producer was assigned certain songs and he was going to do ‘Hallelujah.' And then he had his idea of what it should be. And then I'm like, “But this is my arrangement and it needs to stick to this base.” And he's like, “Well, maybe I'm not the producer for it.”
Zane Lowe: Beautiful.
Jennifer Hudson: Right. And it's like, “We both respect that.”
Zane Lowe : Let's be grownups about that. Yeah.
Jennifer Hudson: Let's be grownups about it. And it turned out to be Greg Phillinganes. And he totally understood as the kids say “the assignment with it.” And so, I gave him my blueprint of the song and then he started to put it together, his idea with it, and it's like, “Okay. We'll add a little more to it.” Although I was fine with it as I gave it to him originally, but okay, it's Christmas, so let's do a little bit more with the song and give it the bells and the whistles.
Zane Lowe: Let's give it the gift of love.
Jennifer Hudson: For the holiday.
Zane Lowe: Let's give it the gift of love.
Jennifer Hudson: But once he sent me his take from it, his idea of what I sent him, I was like, “This feels right.” And then when we recorded the song, he was … I don't know what country he was in, and it was over Zoom. But he was very present and we were in the studio and it was at my Hudsonnettes, my backup singers, who I call them the Hudsonnettes and myself. We did it the way we always do it live. And we stood there and we sang the song. I'm in the booth and they're out there. And once it was done, Greg and David knew this was the most important song to me. I was like, “Without this song, there would be no holiday album.” So, Greg was like, “I got to get this right. How do you feel?” And once he sent me back the recording of it, I was like, “Wow. This is it. It's right” …
Zane Lowe: Emotional?
Jennifer Hudson: Yes. I don't know. It's a feeling. I could feel it. And I was like, “That's it.”
Jennifer Hudson Tells Apple Music About Collaborating with Common on “The Gift of Love.”
Jennifer Hudson: He really is the king of words. We were on the phone, and I think I was preparing for the album, and I was citing ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. He was half sleep, okay, all through the house. And then all of a sudden, he like, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” And I was like, “You know ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?” And he's like, “Jennifer's running her mouth.” And then it kept flowing and flowing. And I was like, “Hey, wait a minute.” And then I was like, “Right. I forgot who I was talking to.”
Zane Lowe: This could go one of two ways. This could either be bad news for you or you could let me have it on my album and then it's good news for both of us.
Jennifer Hudson: But it gave me a big, old, bright idea. I was like, “Oh, my God. This will be amazing if you took ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and freestyled it or flipped it from your perspective.” And then he came up, then come in. Because there's a difference between rushing and coming. The legendary artist popped out and he like, “Yo, it got to be this and that.” And then he turned it into this grand thing.
Zane Lowe: It's beautiful.
Jennifer Hudson: And it's amazing. And then he's like, “I thought I was done with the album.” And then he like, “Okay. Now, you're going to sing this part.” I was like, “You're putting me back in the studio? Okay.”
Zane Lowe: This one person who has that pass and that is you.
Jennifer Hudson: But it turned out so beautiful. And then also, I love the holidays and I love Christmas albums and I don't hear many with the storytelling. Think about the stories we tell our children when they're little, the Christmas stories. So, where is that artform on the holiday album?
Zane Lowe: That's why I love ‘Christmas in Hollis' so much is because an original story done in a way that when I was younger and my friends, that was the thing we wanted our parents to put on.
Jennifer Hudson Tells Apple Music About What Comes Next For Her
Jennifer Hudson: I always say there's a difference between an artist and a vocalist. I've been a vocalist, as far as I'm concerned, my entire career. And that means, “Okay. Jennifer, you sing these words.” And it's like, “Well, what about my story? Using my voice to tell my story?” And that's what this chapter is about for me.
Zane Lowe: It's so good to hear. And it's so interesting. You make a really valid observation there, but I still don't see you as that. I see you as a storyteller, because you're so good …
Jennifer Hudson: Thank you.
Zane Lowe: … at capturing those performances and making them personal in your own authentic. So, are you any closer to being able to describe what that feeling is like knowing that you're on the verge of a new chapter of your life where we get to understand you better as a person and not just as a performer?
Jennifer Hudson: I think it would take time for me to spend time with me to be able to better answer those questions. But because that would take reflecting to share what it is I want to say, and also how to say it. As far as creatively, I feel like I had a great warm up doing the holiday album and it's inspired me to want to hop into the Jennifer Hudson this of it all in that way. But it is time for me to have, I guess, my turn and my …
Zane Lowe: An honest conversation with yourself?
Jennifer Hudson: Yes. And I've lived a lot of life. I always say I've seen the highest of the highs, the lowest of the lows, and everything in between. Where do I start? It is a question. You know what I mean?
Apple Music subscribers can listen to the full interview now on ‘The Zane Lowe Show' on Apple Music 1.
