Gabriella Wilson

“I'd rather have quality over quantity. It's about perfecting each song and making sure it's what you want to do. And then even with what I share it's all very strategic.”

“People are gonna listen to the music whether or not I reveal myself.”

“I always feel like we focus too much on image and the flashiness of what it means to be an artist.”

“Sometimes it's all about hype, and I didn't want hype.”

“I was a kid. I would go home and play instruments, and I would be at school on the playground the next day.”

“I was almost afraid to speak on the things I've dealt with as a woman.”

“As a black woman, I've always had to work hard to earn my respect as a musician - and as a young woman, too. As a writer, in certain sessions or certain rooms people think, 'Who's kid is this? Who's this little girl?' I've had to prove myself.”

“As a young woman, I experienced high school and heartbreak, and the music I started to write was a little bit more poetic, and more inspired by spoken word. The real raw emotional things that sit in the back of our minds, that you were afraid to say? That's how I started to write my music. And that's how 'H.E.R. Volume One' came about.”

“After I graduated from high school, I was like, let's see what happens. I took the time to develop my artistry and my songs, and tried to figure out who I am and what my message is.”

“I used to tell people when I was 15 or 16 that I'd never be that girl who goes through this, gets her heart broken, falls for this guy, but I ended up being her.”

“Music was all around me from the time I came into the world.”

“The studio is the place for me to really confront my feelings and get it all out. I love being in that space and creating, doing what I love, making art.”

“All of my music is based off my life experiences.”

“People do things on Instagram and put on a front and try to live a life that they may not really want to live, or don't truly believe in. And that's the life that they portray. That's not the real them. We all have to be more aware of what is that's really happening inside. Are we really standing for what we believe in?”

“I go to my mom's house and she'll make me do the dishes or clean up.”

“I don't want people to love my music because of what I look like or who I know or whatever.”

“I think people often tend to listen to music with their eyes and not their ears, and I just wanted my work to shine, and to be able to convey my message without imagery taking away from that.”

“Being anonymous, I thought I'd just release the music and see what happens organically.”

“I just want to give back to the community that raised me now that I've gotten to a point where I can do that.”

“Music is just in me and I didn't even realize it early on that I was going to do music.”