How did you modernize Highway to Heaven for 2021? I’m in it, so that’s pretty modern. There are more things like cell phones, Instagram and TikTok. But we really wanted to keep true to the good feelings and the good vibes from the show with Michael Landon. Tell us about Angela. She’s one of the many, many angels sent to earth to assist people in their darkest hours, to help them find the light so they can get through. Her calm, her love and her kindness are beacons to anyone regardless of religion or background. She offers the universal theme of love and forgiveness that we’re just not seeing right now. Did you watch the Michael Landon series? I absolutely did. I used to watch it with my grandma, who was just the sweetest human being I ever met. Funny too, full of lessons. A little camaraderie and good vibes. Do you believe in angels? I do. For my culture, we consider them to be ancestors. It is our grandmothers, grandfathers, great-grandmothers, our people, who look out for us and help to hide our wings, so I actually believe in angels. What form do they take? I used to watch Benji too, so I believe that angels come to us in many, many forms. Angela’s tagline is “There are many flowers in my boss’s garden.” This means sometimes it’s a pet, most of the time it is a stranger, sometimes it is a caregiver in your darkest hour, sometimes it is the bus driver who waited just a little longer just for you. You are also starring in BET’s First Wives Club, which will be back for a third season. What do hope for your character, Hazel, in the new season? I hope that Hazel will have a life-shifting reckoning. I find her to be a little all over the place. She is still trying to find her way. I hope something happens that will shake her up. In that sense, she isn’t like you because you have so many different jobs and get so much accomplished, plus you are a single mom. In the traditional way, I am a single mom, but I raise my son with a village. Hazel and I have some similarities. I am a two-time divorcée, so I can relate to her on divorce. I am in the music industry, so we have similarities in that way, but I am a lot more grounded than Hazel is. She jumps off buildings all the time. What I enjoy about her most is she will take a running leap. What can you tell us about Mahalia!, the film project you’re working on, starring as 1950s and ’60s gospel queen Mahalia Jackson? I am super excited. I am also super nervous. It is a great responsibility to play an actual human being who has impacted so many people’s lives in big ways and bigger ways. I am an executive producer. We want to do it as right as possible, in line with her energy and her spirit. Mahalia Jackson was very involved in the civil rights movement. Is that something you can relate to because you are also very active? In some ways, I am. I prefer to do my work behind the scenes. I believe in philanthropy, but I don’t necessarily need a parade for it. I think it is all a part of our individual responsibilities as adults, as parents and as citizens. You are in the studio now. How is the new music coming? Oh, boy! The music is very alive. I am not an Auto-Tune kind of singer. I believe in flaws. I believe in writing sincerely; I believe that music should have an energy and a fluidity before I even touch it, before I lay voice to it. That has been the challenge in looking for music and creating music that has that, that lives before I even step into the booth. Is there a theme to the upcoming album? There is, but I can’t share it until it’s time. Searching out what the magic music is has been really the challenge. I need magic and that’s what I’ve been waiting for. Yay! Finally, I’m getting it. So you finally found the magic, but how do you decide when it’s time to act and when it’s time to sing? It’s all a part of who I am. Sometimes, when you need a nap or a rest, you take a nap. If you need water, you drink water. It’s just a part of who I am. Sometimes I just have to sing. It’s a calling and I wait to be called. Other than that, I’m forcing something, and I don’t believe in forcing. I definitely enjoy allowing the class that I participate in and the art that I create to happen, which can be a little frustrating to people who insure what I do, so I am super grateful and really appreciative that they have such patience with me. I always say it is not a sprint. My goal is to have longevity. I want to be able to do all the things that I do from writing to acting to singing to executive producing and directing, all those things, in the future, I want to be able to do them as long as I am alive. No retirement? No, I want to be doing something at 75, whether it is writing songs for other people or being onstage and performing a show, I still want to be able to do this. Tell us about J.ill the Podcast. I grew up listening to my aunties’ conversations. My aunts and my mom would get together and have their Manischewitz and talk about life. My mother told me if I was quiet, I would be able to hear, I would be able to listen. So, no giggling, no sound effects, just stay hidden quiet and you could hear what was being said. I have one auntie left, they’ve passed on, and I thought, All of that humor, all of that life experience, maybe some young people or even people my age or older, are missing voyeurism into real conversations that may not always be right but are necessary to spark conversations. Because the most important part is that we are talking to each other. As lovers, as parents, as friends, as business comrades, we have to communicate. I thought, This will be a nice way to share what I know and share some laughter, maybe some tears too. We’ve had those days. What was your goal when you started? Did you have any idea what your career would grow into? Oddly enough, everything I dreamed about is in full fruition. All of it. I wanted to be some version of BetteMidler, WhoopiGoldberg, DollyParton and DianaRoss. They are women who have done it all, from music to acting to directing to writing, all of it. I have always admired those women. I am still walking into it. When I look around, I am No. 1 on the call sheet on two different networks, executive producing both; preparing for Mahalia!, which is an amazing, life-altering role, executive producing as well with QueenLatifah and JamieFoxx; I’ve got a podcast; I’m in the studio working with amazing musicians, creating an album that my appreciators, my fans, are really waiting for; it is all just a joyride. It is a beautiful experience filled with late nights and hard work and long conversations and deep appreciation. I’m so grateful. Next, We Asked First Wives Club’s Ryan Michelle Bathé About Her First Love, First Impression of Hubby Sterling K. Brown and More
