Bruised director and star Halle Berry recruited H.E.R. for the film’s all-female soundtrack, and the Oscar- and Grammy-winning music artist delivered the powerful track “Automatic Woman,” inspired by Halle’s character, Jackie Justice, who stops at nothing until she emerges victorious.
Berry says in a new episode of the Netlifx Playlist Showcase video feature that the 24-year-old singer’s 2016 song “Focus” changed her life and helped her ask for the focus she needed in a relationship.
“If this song, ‘Automatic Woman,’ could hit others like ‘Focus’ hit me, I feel like I’ve been part of creating something that’s really magical.”
H.E.R. comments that she was inspired by Halle’s gritty performance in Bruised. “I was so moved by ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to make it through,’” she says. “The idea of perseverance and, like, pushing through, fighting through … all those things you have to tell yourself to be able to fight through.”
In other news, Meagan Good stars as a Columbia University anthropology professor who is an expert on dating cultures around the world, yet has trouble navigating her own love life, in the 10-episode Harlem TV series that debuts Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
She told Ebony she’s never related more to a character in her 30-year career. “This is the first time I was like, ‘Oh, I know her. I understand her.’ So much of that is exactly me. I am very quirky and goofy, and nerdy. And as an actress, I haven’t had a chance to show that side of myself, and I didn’t know what might come out—and I was excited to explore that. ”
Finally, a 16-time Grammy winner stars with Demetria McKinney in the original holiday film, Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas, airing Saturday, December 4 at 8 p.m / 7 p.m. Central on Lifetime.
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