Andra Day’s New Day

ROLE OF A LIFETIME –

May 11, 2021 – Living with Holiday for such an intense stretch of time seems to have gifted Day the opportunity to consider different ways of being and thinking, particularly around the ideas of beauty and sexuality. “I feel now, after playing Billie, that I’m honoring her, and the strength that is femininity. I’m definitely in a healthier place to enjoy that because I’m outside of the addiction, if you will. So, yeah, it’s been really fun, because it’s been very new for me.”

Day’s willingness to be so open, steered by her vulnerability and compassion for herself, speaks so resolutely to who she is.

“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Do you feel prettier now that you’ve lost weight?’ I was like, ‘Hell, no! I liked being juicy! I was cool,’ “ she says, laughing. “But I do like the way [the weight loss] feels on my body, I like the way it feels on my joints. You do notice a difference. Besides, to me, there is no such thing as a classic beauty. Beauty takes on so many different forms, in different times and depending on the nation. It’s just about being confident, loving yourself, and understanding your value.” Still, in an industry and a culture where understanding your value as a woman, especially as a Black woman, comes with all manner of caveats, does Day herself feel beautiful? “I definitely do. And it has to do with Billie. It was almost like she said, ‘Sis, we’re going to have to close this, because I have to survive.’ She opened me up to valuing myself in a way that I hadn’t fully before.”

As we wind down our conversation, it occurs to me that Day actually knows exactly who she’s supposed to be in this particular season she’s in — one of purpose and growth, beauty and complexity, and the fierce agency of a Black woman who has arrived. “Somebody was trying to tell me the other day, ‘Just make sure you don’t get typecast, because you don’t want to always be playing the powerful Black woman.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I do. I also am one.’”