A Hurricane in Heels: More Than an Album It’s a survival map.
A Hurricane in Heels: More Than an Album
An album isn’t just music — it’s a time capsule of who you were when the pen hit the page and the mic caught your breath. This, my 11th album, is not a victory lap. It’s a survival map.
I’ve been doing my absolute best to stay off social media about what’s happening in my personal life. Twenty years ago, that’s where I first learned to express myself — online — but the truth is, the internet is not safe. Nothing is safe. Your phone isn’t safe. I’m not disappearing into the woods or going off-grid. But I know that friends of my abuser are watching. There’s nothing I can do. I’m powerless… and restless, sleepless, voiceless, and all the other “-less” words I never wanted to write about myself.
It’s horrifying to feel trapped inside your own way of expressing yourself — knowing that even this might be reported back. So instead, I wrote out the reasons behind each track. This album isn’t about one person. On my life. On my granddaughter. It’s about me. It’s about learning (and unlearning) how I ignore red flags, how I try to make something out of nothing, how I’ve poured love, sex, bonding, energy into relationships I thought I could heal — only to crawl out shattered, wondering why I gave everything and still didn’t see the future I envisioned.
On the interlude of this album, you’ll hear banter from my live show in Chicago — but not all of it. My abuser once asked me to cut a piece of truth, and I did. I regret that. Art is supposed to be a mirror, and I allowed someone to smudge mine. The question that was cut was simple: “Are you happy?” My answer: “I was happy for the first six months.” That was the truth, and it hurt. And it’s still the truth. Of course, I was happy throughout the relationship.
How I replied in Chicago on stage was for entertainment purposes; six months is not necessarily entirely true. I was happy. I was in love with her since our first date May 31st 2023 at FLOWER CHILD CAFE at Off Lennox. I’ll never forget it; I’ll never forget how we fell in love. Or, at least I did. I definitely had happiness throughout our two year and some change relationship. It was the most joy I ever experienced in my life. We had telepathy. It was crazy. I’ve never been so connected to anyone. I believed in magic. I believed in love. I believed that dreams could come true. I believed I had a purpose and a future and someone that finally understood me and that I would be with her forever.
We had our first argument December of 2023. I didn't start it, I didn't do anything actually. I was shocked. I was yelled at. The words that I will never be able to un-hear when she screamed at me “I don't need you!” I screamed back. After that it was never the same. Everyone wants to be needed & wanted and I know that's not the full conversation, there are layers to that conversation. We are human beings and we are built to be connected.
It’s okay to say both truths out loud:
I love her. I will always love her. In some ways, she was my greatest love.
She cannot love me in the way I need. Or won’t.
This is my most vulnerable work yet — not just an album, but a mirror. It’s not about one person. It’s about several relationships, several breakings, several versions of me. It’s about learning and unlearning. And maybe, just maybe, believing in myself first, before anyone else.
➡️ Please read the track descriptions on my blog, comment, and share. This is my most honest art yet.
A Hurricane in Heels was partially recorded live at City Winery stages across the country because my storms do not belong in a studio box — they belong in the air, where people can feel them on their skin.
Each track is a mirror of the moments I survived and the lessons I refused to bury. Rescue Construction is me cautioning against rebuilding too fast after loss. So What!? is my unapologetic refusal to shrink under the weight of expectation. Why Chaos Turns Me On is my confession about mistaking dysfunction for passion. And Healed People Don’t Act Like That — the anchor of this album — is the mantra that healing is not a slogan, it’s a behavior change.
There are tracks about politics (45/47 [Donald!]), about the sacred (A Poem for Malcolm), and about the weight of motherhood (Prodigal Mom). There are affirmations (And…You’re Beautiful, Too), boundaries (My Name is Not Beth), and neurodivergence (Life in the Fast Brain). And yes — there’s fire, rage, and wit in Barbie on Fire, because no storm is complete without lightning.
This album is proof that poetry can live anywhere — in the club, in the church, in the street, on the ballot, in the hospital waiting room. And it is proof that healing is not linear — it is messy, loud, funny, terrifying, and, ultimately, liberating.
I did not write this project just for myself. I wrote it for every musician, singer, producer, poet, and listener who believed in me long enough to lend their brilliance to the work. This is not a solo hurricane. It is a chorus. It is a storm built in community. And it is my offering for GRAMMY® consideration — not because I need a trophy to validate the work, but because healed people deserve to be seen, too.
1. Rescue Construction (rush)
LISTEN TO THE SONG
I wrote Rescue Construction as a blueprint for healing after destruction. I wanted to capture how quickly people try to rebuild after a storm — whether it is a heartbreak, a disappointment, or a life-altering event — rushing through the process without laying a strong foundation. The poem became a metaphor for me learning to slow down and face the wreckage, not just decorate the debris.
2. So What!? ft. Divinity Roxx, Tamisha Waden & Darien Alexander
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So What!? is me shrugging off society’s labels and expectations. People have told me how I should act, love, dress, or even grieve — and this track is my response: so what? It’s defiance, but it’s also freedom. With Divinity on bass and vocals, Tamisha on soul, and Darien grounding it, the song became a declaration that healed people choose authenticity over approval.
3. Why Chaos Turns Me On — LIVE @CityWinery Nashville
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This piece was born out of brutal honesty with myself. There were times I mistook chaos for passion, toxicity for intensity. I was addicted to the adrenaline of dysfunction because it felt familiar, even when it wasn’t healthy. Writing it forced me to admit the seduction of drama and the courage required to outgrow it.
4. Healed People Don’t Act Like That — LIVE @CityWinery Nashville
LISTEN TO THE POEM
The title alone is a mantra. I wrote this piece to remind myself — and anyone listening — that when you’re truly healed, you don’t return to old patterns. You don’t lash out, ghost, manipulate, or self-destruct. This became the anchor track for the album because it embodies the theme: healing changes behavior.
5. Interlude — LIVE @CityWinery Chicago
LISTEN TO QUEEN SHEBA’S HUMOR HERE
The interlude is my banter, my comedic break in between heavy truths. I kept it because healing is not only about tears and trauma — it’s about laughter, too. Sometimes humor is survival.
6. 45/47 (DONALD!) — LIVE @CityWinery Chicago
LISTEN TO THE POEM OUTLOUD ON BIG SPEAKERS HERE
I wrote this because politics impacts poetry, and silence is complicity. This piece is about accountability — naming the chaos of 45 while envisioning the threat of 47. It’s protest poetry in real time, and performing it live carried the urgency of shouting truth in a crowded room.
7. Choice — by Malachi Rivers ft. Queen Sheba & Malcolm Hyneman
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I collaborated on Choice because the word itself defines our humanity. Malachi and I wanted to remind people that choice is the intersection of freedom and consequence. My verse became my confession: the choices I’ve made in love, career, and survival — and the weight of owning them.
8. Prodigal Mom ft. Classique516 & Phillippia Williams
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This was one of the hardest pieces to write. It’s about the cost of chasing dreams while raising a child, the guilt of being absent, the missed moments you cannot rewind. I wrote it for my son, for every mother who left lunches half-packed to catch flights, and for the forgiveness we still seek from ourselves.
9. Love is Not a Contract to Suffer ft. Tina J
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I wrote this because too many people, including myself, have confused endurance with love. Staying in relationships that hurt us, thinking loyalty means tolerating abuse. This track is my liberation note: love should not be signed in blood or bound in pain. Love should be freedom, not a contract to suffer.
10. A Poem for Malcolm ft. Jamellow & Melodic Touch — LIVE @CityWinery Atlanta
LISTEN TO THE POEM
This is a dedication, plain and sacred. Malcolm-Jamal Warner was more than an artist to me — he was a brother, a legend, and a reminder of how art outlives us. I wrote this poem as a love letter to his memory, and performing it live was a way to grieve out loud with a community that also felt the loss.
11. And…You’re Beautiful, Too — LIVE @CityWinery Nashville
LISTEN TO THE POEM
This poem is about affirmation. I wrote it for every woman who has been told she is “too much” or “not enough.” It’s the voice I needed to hear when I doubted my own reflection. Live, it became a collective mirror — reminding us all we are already beautiful, already whole.
12. My Name is Not ‘Beth’ — LIVE @The Movement by Mellowvzn | Atlanta
LISTEN TO THE POEM
I wrote this because names carry power. Being called “Beth” feels like erasure, a reduction of my full identity. This piece is me reclaiming my name, my story, and my authority over how I am remembered. It’s also a boundary set in stone: do not rename me to make me convenient.
13. Life in the Fast Brain
LISTEN TO THE POEM
This piece is autobiographical — rooted in my neurodivergence, the racing thoughts, the time blindness, the spirals. I wanted to show the brilliance and burden of living in a fast brain, how it can feel like both a gift and a storm. It’s a poem of acceptance: I don’t need to be fixed; I just need to be understood.
14. Barbie on Fire ft. Bella Blaq & Spaceman Shawty
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Barbie on Fire is my feminist scream. It’s about the moment you stop performing perfection for love that doesn’t love you back. It’s angry, witty, and unapologetic — the Barbie who refuses to sit pretty while burning from within. With Bella and Spaceman, it became an anthem for every woman who has broken out of a box someone else built.
THE TEAM — I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT THESE AMAZING HUMANS — LISTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER — ALL WITH MY LOVE.
QUEEN SHEBA
“A HURRICANE IN HEELS:
healed people don’t act like that”
For Your Grammy Consideration in the Spoken Word Poetry Category
www.AHurricaneInHeels.com
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