MOST of all, and FIRST of all I wanna thank my MOM! For telling me I can be anything I want, and helping me be everything I am.

It is the 5th of July going on 12 pm. Est. And I’m sitting on my bed just enjoying the silence and the heat and basking in the contentment of a hard earned success. I had a “Private Party” one woman album release party in my house last night until 6 in the morning. I took a bath at 3 am and put on my white dress and danced for 3 hours….LOL! I’m so childish…Hahahahhalolol!

Contrary to the lower half of the reviews I’ve been reading, this is not the album of a woman unscathed, it’s not a bunch of platitudes and empty optimism. TESTIMONY vol. 1 is the musical manifestation of a person who dug way deeper than the surface of anger to find a place of true healing and wisdom about love. I’m sure we all know how hard forgiving is. I know my “pretty” music makes it sound idealized to some but it really is my truth and its a TRUTH I worked very hard for. THAT is what I celebrated last night… This Independence Day represents my freedom from the fear of pain. I now know that I have the tools to deal with the ups and downs of love.

I said all of that to say, if I can go from the rock Bottom of a broken heart, crying on the living room floor, to the top of the Billboard charts and singing with Prince, Stevie wonder and Chaka Khan at the BET awards (hey that rhymes..LOL!) I know that I am being rewarded for my perseverance.

As I grow I understand that:

#1 everything changes and I will be on the floor again and

#2 when I am on the floor again, I will get back up.

# 3 I believe that “There’s Hope” because I’m shown my way back into the light time and time again.

I thank everyone who played a role in helping me bring this dream to earth. Thank you all SO! Much

Source: myspace.com/indiaarie

Source: myspace.com/indiaarie

Audio CD (June 27, 2006)
eShop: Pre-Order here

There are times when I find myself with Sting and Bette Midler, then I’m at the CBS morning show and then the Apollo and then at the grocery store and some times I wonder do I belong here? My lesson has been to KNOW, that I belong where ever I am and be comfortable with exactly WHO I am and be AUTHENTIC in that moment. YES we can all work to get people to like us but I have found its much better to have someone like you for you but if they don’t that’s cool too. And when it comes to LOVE, I’ve heard it said so many times before, but now I understand….be yourself and let the chips fall where they may…. It’s a CHOICE I remember to make in each moment. This is the lesson that inspired the song I CHOOSE

CHORUS: I CHOOSE TO BE THE BEST THAT I CAN BE, I CHOOSE TO BE AUTHENTIC IN EVERYHTING I DO, MY PAST DON’T DICTATE WHO I AM, I DO,I CHOOSE.

I’m through submerging parts of my personality in a quest for acceptance I want to be pleasing to God and at the end of my day, at the end of my career, at the end of my life be able to say, that I lived the life I wanted and that I LIVED!.                India.Arie

Source: myspace.com/indiaarie

I was saying my prayers one day, in a time of great change and self analysis and this word AUTHENTICITY came to mind.

It’s more that Truthful, for me it means to LIVE and ACT and WALK in Truth. It’s the act of being truthful. Genuine this has been a challenge for me.

For the sake of harmony in love I found myself trying to change to the whims of the other in my life and loosing myself. It wasn’t his fault, I was doing what came naturally and that was to submerge certain parts of my personality for the sake of making things work. I realize now I was just trying to hold on, and I know now the lesson was all about me knowing that I have to be true to myself and if that means he wants to leave I have to let him go and trust that this is the best thing for both of us. It took me a while to remember who I was after this beautiful struggle.

This experience grew me up, because it made me look at all of the other areas where I allow my self to be molded by the expectations of other people out of fear for not being accepted….and I do that so much more than I realized. Being in the public eye magnified all of this.   (Authenticity TO BE CONTINUED.) —-India.Arie

Source: myspace.com/indiaarie

Saturday. Sleep deprivation in the name of completing this album. It’s 2 days away from complete after all this time. I was sitting in the mastering session and got full of joy , stood up and yelled out “I AM SO HAPPY” it takes a lot to get me to this point, and I’ve worked so hard, internally and in the physical world on this album to be so close to completion is SO EXCITING!!!! The engineer laughed until he was red…..LOL! When you hear people say this is not a glamorous life, it’s true. BUT the whole truth is this: Though it’s not glamorous, it IS EXCITING …..LOL! This has been a rewarding experience…. India.Arie

                                 INDIA.ARIE NOMINATED FOR 2006 BET AWARD

                                   CELEBRATED ARTIST TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM

                              “Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship” In-Stores June 27

(New York, NY) – 12-time Grammy nominated India.Arie hopes to make it two for two at this year’s 6th Annual BET Awards.  The celebrated singer was nominated today for  Best R&B Female Artist by the popular cable network.  She previously won in the same category at BET’s 2003 awards.  In another bit of synchronicity, The 6th Annual BET Awards will air live on Tuesday, June 27th at Los Angeles’ Kodiak Theater, the official in-store release day for India.Arie’s long awaited new disc, Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, which also happens to be National HIV Testing Day, a cause very close to India.Arie’s heart.  Her third studio album, and her first since 2002’s acclaimed Voyage To India, which reached #6 on Billboard’s Top Albums chart, the new disc was produced by longtime collaborators Shannon Sanders and Mark Batson (Seal, Beyonce), among others.  The album’s first video, “I Am Not My Hair,” helmed by Barnaby Roper (Moby, Razorlight) has also recently been added to VH1 and BET.

Known for her soulful pursuit of musical perfection, the new album is a more personal expression from the singer/songwriter, who has been duly recognized through the years for her keen insights about the world at large.  India.Arie recently returned from a heavy national promotional schedule for the new disc, and she will be heading to Europe after Memorial Day to perform select songs from the much anticipated album. 

India.Arie emerged onto the music scene in 2001 with her platinum plus debut Acoustic Soul.  A masterful meditation on self-acceptance and womanhood, she was dubbed the new “neo-soulstress” by no less than Newsweek Magazine, praising her as “one of the freshest talents to come out of 2001,” the emotive singer went on to be nominated for seven Grammys for her debut album, and subsequently has won a host of awards including 2 Grammys, 3 NAACP Awards, as well as being recognized by BET, Billboard Magazine, MTV, VH1 and Essence Magazine, among others. 

2002’s Voyage To India cemented her rep as a seminal singer/songwriter, netting her 4 Grammy nominations and two statues.  With more than six million albums sold, she   most recently was nominated for her 12th Grammy in the Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals category for her writing collaboration with Stevie Wonder on the title song of his most recent album, A Time To Love. 

India.Arie is also a U.S. ambassador for UNICEF and universally recognized as a tireless champion of social and humanitarian causes around the world.  She recently returned from a trip to South Africa where she observed and assisted humanitarian efforts taking place in the epicenter of the global AIDS crisis.

India.Arie

Audio CD (June 27, 2006)
eShop: Pre-Order here