Many know Latice Crawford for her powerhouse performance as a contestant on BET’s Sunday Best.
But Crawford doesn’t just have an amazing voice when she opens her mouth to sing. Crawford description of her relationship with God (she is Christian) and the wisdom she’s gained is impressive, both when you speak to her and watch her share her artistry on social media. Since Sunday Best, Crawford has delivered a number of tremendous projects, not just with music.
Crawford opened up and shared with BGN about her new music and why it has really connected with her listeners, particularly during these trying times.
You really got your name out there when you were on Sunday Best a few years back. Looking back at that moment, how would you say your life has changed since then?
My life has changed so much because it’s so much more fast paced now. There’s so much happening at one time. Between being a mom, which was a new thing that I became after Sunday Best (my son is nine now), especially in this pandemic, being his homeschool teacher, trying to finish school myself, and rushing to do interviews and stuff, life is a bit of a room but one that I love to visit.
You’re a busy mom and working on your career as well. How have you learned to balance it all so well?
I really don’t think there’s any way to really balance that part out. I definitely am confident in my no and in my yes when I have to. But it’s something that I really put a lot more focus on. Recently I was making sure that while I’m fulfilling the obligations of my career and pursuing the obligations of being a mom, I also make sure I do things that make me happy. Now just for me, I’m aware I can give back, so I was certified in cognitive behavioral therapy and in relationship facilitation for me to be a life coach. I’m back in school for neuro-linguistic programming. Hopefully in the next few months, I’ll be certified. That’s just for me; it makes me happy when I can give back and help people get to a place of wholeness.
I love how you use your social media platform to stay connected to people and that you create a positive space. How has social media kept you connected specifically during this time of pandemic?
It’s helped me to be able to go on other people’s pages to see what they’re doing and how they’re still being creative and thinking of new ways to spark the message or to put up something funny. One thing about human beings is that we are made to survive. We find ways to still continue to live even when things like this happen. So although every now and again you’re like, “Man, I really want to hug” — I’d love to be able to go outside — I think that we are virtually able to hug each other and still stay connected. I laugh now. As much as I used to hate social media before, I’m beginning to love it now. I’m seeing that there’s a greater purpose for it versus just spreading some drama and gossip. We can now all stay connected, and what would we do if we didn’t have this?
How has it been connected with your fans on social media?
It’s great being able to connect with them and seeing the things they’re interested in. Right now I’m in campaign mode, so my page is mostly about music. I do post about the food I cook, about my son and the kind of things that he says, and about my talk show, Girls Talk. It’s an online talk show that I’ve started since this pandemic. I get to share with [my guests], and they also get to share with me. I’m very, very aware and conscious that I’m nothing without my support. I definitely want to make sure that I stay in contact with [my fans] and continue to hear their thoughts and what they want more of and what they like. So it’s been a blessing to be able to stay connected with them.
Your beautiful voice carries so much power and touches so many people. How is the feedback to your music encouraging to you?
It took me a while to get to a place where I was comfortable and confident in the part of the body that I functioned in, the Body of Christ. It was very hard for me for a while, I fought between who I wanted to be and who I thought God was making me to be, versus who other people needed me to be for them to be comfortable in what I was doing. But I saw that the more authentic I was about the message that God was giving me and about the experiences that he was giving me, the more I was connecting with people when they were like, “Okay, wow, she’s human.” It’s very easy to forget that sometimes for us the artists, who are making songs to keep you uplifted, that we needed them first. Now that I’m being much more transparent with the different struggles and things that I’ve had to fight for, it is resonating with people more and the feedback has been so much more positive. My whole aim is to write music that’s full of some things that people, believers and non-believers, can come to and say, “Wow, I went through that, too.” And then they’ll look for my cure, and my cure is God. I’m hoping that they’ll find him there in my music, so I’m very excited with the feedback. I’m thinking especially about this latest single “Something Something.” People are feeling it, they’re loving it, it’s lifting them.
What can you tell me about the writing and recording process for this song?
“Something Something” is actually available for you to download now and purchase. It’s there, guys, go get it, go to my page right now, make sure that you go and purchase it right now. The writing behind that song was just me talking about my stronghold and the things that I was looking for — the “pills” and “medicine” that I was looking for to temporarily maintain or temporarily give me a feeling of happiness or a feeling of hope and not wanting to feel lonely in those moments. I was busy looking for something, but ultimately I found the “something” above all “somethings,” and that was Jesus Christ. When I was writing the song that was the mindset. I wanted people to know that no matter what it is that you need to be filled, go to the something that we really need. It’s something that’s greater than something that you’ve been using that has only been there to maintain you. Medicine runs out; the cure is eternal.
Obviously your faith is a huge part of your life. How have you stayed encouraged during these trying times?
It’s breaking my heart, the things that are going on. I can’t sit here and lie to you and tell you that every day I’m just encouraged because I’m not. Yesterday was a very, very tough day for me. With interviews, they were asking me about the things that are happening with the police stuff and asking me what’s happening with the pandemic stuff. I was like, “I can digest the pandemic but I don’t know about this other stuff. It’s a lot going on in the world right now.” I will not lie to anybody on here and say that every day is a good day for me. It’s not. But I do know that I can’t stop whatever it is that I’m doing. The only thing that has really gotten me through is the hope that there’s something else after this, that’s greater than this. It doesn’t take away the pain of what is happening now. But we have to keep fighting. We just have to take it day by day and do what we can to contribute to a better, more positive state of living. But with a pandemic, I’ll definitely say [it helped] changing my perspective from “Oh gosh, I’m stuck in the house” to “I have the gift of time.” Right now this is the time we all wanted. Time with our families, time to take a risk, or time to try something new. We now have that. At least in that part of it, change your perspective and just be thankful for the gift of time that we have that we’ll probably never get again.
If you could collaborate with any gospel/Christian artist, who would it be with and why?
I would love to explore doing something with Kim Burrell. She was a huge inspiration for me, not just with what she can do with her voice. When I lost my voice for about five years, I was going through so much. I was in my upper teen years and was starting to experience life, different trials and stuff. And I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t talk about it. I couldn’t say anything. Around the time where my voice started to be somewhat restored, not back to what it was but just enough to be able to talk and speak and sing a little bit, Kim Burrell had come out and I finally heard someone else in the industry who had the texture of voice that I was now trying to learn and get used to — someone else who also was also very colorful in their music and transitions and the choices they were making. So she was very inspirational for me — to see that there was someone else that functioned in a part of the body that I was functioning in. I would love to collaborate with her and do a song or two with her.
Any projects coming up that you can tell me about?
We’re working on the rest of the project. The coronavirus changed some of the plans that we have with that, so we’re still trying to fight between or trying to figure out if we want to do an EP or an LP. But one way or another, it’ll be called The Cure. It was not intended for this time, we’ve been working on this for almost two years, but I guess it’s supposed to be now. We’re working on a release date for that, we’re trying to see how “Something Something” and “Amazing” are going to do, and I just started that little online talk show called Girls Talk. You guys can find that on my page or you can go to us on Instagram “GirlsTalkLMF.” All of the links and stuff are there; you guys could check that out. Hopefully one day I’ll have a cooking show or cookbook or something else that we have some artist merchandise. Make sure you download “Something Something”!
Follow Latice Crawford on Instagram @laticecrawford, to stay up-to-date with her music and other content.
