*Chaka Khan, recently honored with the inaugural Beauty Icon Award at the Bronner Bros. Beauty Icon Awards, shared her thoughts on the next generation of musicians in an interview with REVOLT journalist Angie B. When asked which contemporary R&B artist she would trust to cover her songs, Khan immediately named H.E.R. “She’s phenomenal,” she said. “She’s the closest thing to Prince.”
H.E.R. has earned widespread recognition, including an Academy Award, a Children’s and Family Emmy Award, and five Grammy Awards, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe, three American Music Awards, and four Billboard Music Awards. Khan’s praise carries extra weight, reflecting her personal and creative relationship with Prince, which she described as a mutual exchange of brilliance. “We were changing each other when he was on this plane with us,” she said. “He’s still changing me, and whoever’s open. I miss him, though. I miss the man.”
Their connection extended beyond music. “He was very bright,” Khan said. “We shared a lot of the same stuff… We were like-minded. So, it was good.”
Khan also spoke about her daughter, Indira, who is pursuing a career in singing and acting. “She does what she wants to do. She never listens to me. And that’s a good thing. Find your own way. So, when you mess up, it’s your fault; you have to fix it.”
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On the evolution of the music industry for Black women, Khan emphasized authenticity over competition. “I don’t think this is a contest,” she said. “Art and expression are much deeper than that. Forget what they doing, what she doing, how they doing it. This is how I rock. This is how I get mine. So that’s what it should be about.”
She encouraged younger artists to celebrate each other’s talents, saying, “When you see somebody else and you recognize their good mind, you say, ‘Oh, she got it.’ It keeps life more interesting than competing with somebody.”
Reflecting on her own legacy, Khan concluded simply: “Just keep me here until I’m done. That’s my personal legacy.”
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