Lauryn Hill says her label never called her to make a follow-up to ‘The Miseducation Of…’

Lauryn Hill has spoken about why she never released a follow-up album to her acclaimed debut ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’.

The musician released the record in 1998, but it remains the only solo album in her catalogue to date.

In a rare interview, Hill said her label had never chased her to make another album. “The wild thing is no one from my label has ever called me and asked how can we help you make another album, EVER…EVER,” she said in email correspondence with Rolling Stone.

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“Did I say ever? Ever! … With the ‘Miseducation’, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment and express.”

She continued to say that it was after the record was made that she began to face trials like “scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations and saboteurs EVERYWHERE”. “People had included me in their own narratives of THEIR successes as it pertained to my album, and if this contradicted my experience, I was considered an enemy,” she explained.”

 

‘The Miseducation Of…’ featured the singles ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’, ‘Ex-Factor’ and ‘Everything Is Everything’. It was nominated for 10 awards at the 1999 Grammys and took home five of them – making Hill the first woman to score that many nods and trophies in one night.

The star said that, even though the aftermath of the record was less than perfect, she still felt the “LOVE in the album, the passion, its intention is to me, undeniable”.

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“I think my intention was simply to make something that made my foremothers and forefathers in music and social and political struggle know that someone received what they’d sacrificed to give us, and to let my peers know that we could walk in that truth, proudly and confidently,” she said.

Meanwhile, last year, luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton shared a recording of a livestreamed set of Hill from their Men’s SS21 fashion show in Shanghai. The musician performed for 20 minutes, playing six tracks including recent solo release ‘Guard The Gates’.