The Filipino-American singer-songwriter, Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson A.K.A. H.E.R. (Having Everything Revealed) won ‘Song of the Year’ in her entry material entitled “I Can’t Breathe” at the 63rd Grammy Awards on Sunday, March 14, 2021.
“I’ve never been so proud to be an artist,” Wilson said as she accepted the award. She shared that she wrote the song over FaceTime when she was in the midst of fear, and she also thanked God for having the voice to create change.
“We are the change we wish to see”, “That fight that we had in us the summer of 2020, keep that same energy,” Wilson said as she ended her speech.
H.E.R wrote the protest song honoring George Floyd’s death, the unarmed black American who was allegedly passed counterfeiting a $20 bill in Minneapolis and also dedicated to other notable people who have been behind the #BlackLivesMatter story.
Wilson’s artist’s identity has always been concealed because she always prefers her music to speak louder for itself. But her profile keeps lowkey until people are starting to dig into her anonymity. According to Oprah Magazine, the 23-year-old H.E.R was raised by a Filipina mother and a black American father.
Oprah Magazine has described Wilson’s childhood exposed to karaoke music mostly a typical Filipino singing outlet and also influenced by her musician father.
This contemporary R&B artist entered the music industry anonymously in 2016 and has built her career through winning various Grammy Awards according to the Grammy Awards website.
H.E.R won over some of the toughest artists in the Song of the Year category, bested Taylor Swift, Roddy Rich, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, JP Saxe featuring Julia Micheals, and Post Malone.
Source: https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/her/243298, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMi2v5bZyLE, https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/her-wins-song-of-the-year-2021-winner, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-1Bf_XWaPE, https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/a30630816/who-is-her/
