"What the fuck is life, man," Jessie Reyez wrote Jan. 1 on Facebook. "I know it can’t always be great. I know lows have to come by design. But fuck, man. When it’s good, it’s really good."
She was likely foreshadowing what looks like an incredible year in her career, because a day later, she was confirmed to be on this year's Coachella lineup, something she acknowledged didn't seem possible as recently as 2015 when she was still performing covers at her parents' house.
Today, she released a new song called "Love in the Dark," which comes just days after she confirmed her debut album Before Love Came to Kill Us is coming on March 27 via FMLY/Island Records. It's also probably not a coincidence the song arrives ahead of Sunday's Grammy Awards, where Reyez is a first-time nominee, up for Best Urban Contemporary Album for her Being Human in Public EP.
"I wrote this during a really sad time in my life," she says of the new song. "I remember crying. I hope people understand how vulnerable it is."
While Reyez has never held back from expressing her emotions in her music, this new track is perhaps one of her most gripping and intimate offerings. But it's also worth noting, as the song builds to its beaming chorus, it's undeniably worthy of massive stadiums. And as she aims for her biggest year yet, maybe that's next.
Watch the video for "Love in the Dark" below.