India.Arie has been sharing her message of self-love and hope with people all around theworld since she dropped her debut albumAcoustic Soulin 2001,. With classic cuts like Video and Brown Skin, and albums like Voyage to India, two Testimony albums and 2013s Songversation, the singer-songwriter hascertainly madean impressive mark.

In June, the Denver, Colo. nativereleased her latest project, theEP SongVersation: Medicinea project she describes as meant to belistened to duringquiet time, likeinprayer, mediation or yoga. India performed the the first single I Am Light with Erykah Badu on the 2016 Soul Train awards, and she talked to The Boombox about theSongVersation EP and how her music fits with the cultural boom of black female creativity.

What inspired this latest project? SongVersation does have a creative process, and it has a spiritualprocess. Which for me, creativity and spirituality are one in the same,so SongVersation: Medicine is an album that I offered in the spirit of just administering to people who are caught up in the times.

The world is changing so fast, she continued.Were all looking for something meaningful. People who never thought about meaningful things before now are looking for things that are meaningful, because the world is so crazy I wanted to detail the process through which I create my music, and so I call that the Songversation PackageJournal that is a companion to this album, and I just debuted it on the Oprah Share the Adventure Cruise.

Can you talk about the I Am Light single and what you wanted toconveyin the song?

I think that song is able to speak to people where they are. For me, I think the bottom line is, which is one of my favorite quotes thats from C.S. Lewis, You do not have a soul, you are a soul. You have a body. To me thats what [I Am Light] is really all about. Reminding people that things are going to happen sometimes, but its not wrong its human. Were going to struggle, but its not wrong its human. Were going to have good times, but that doesnt mean its going to define you anymore than the bad times.

There seems to be a surge in high profile music and movie releases that speak to black women. Whats your take on that? Why the sudden shift?

I think black women are seeking to empower ourselves. When youre in a world that always doesnt love you, it starts to where you have to love you. And thats the best you can hope for, and then other people might love you too, but then you figure it out at some point like Were going to make our own movies. Like Ava DuVernay, thats why shes so important, right? Thats why Oprah making that commitment to tell black stories is so important. I think the pain of being a black woman in the world makes us want to empower [ourselves more], and I think the art comes out of that.

I also think that Michelle Obama has something to do with it. Just seeing her brought a certain empowerment Just seeing this woman [reminded us] Wait a minute, were dope.

Whatdo you think about SZAs recent success, and what does itmean for black female singer-songwriters going forward?

I dont think black singer-songwriters in the industry have ever gotten a fair shake, because the music industry says the same words like There can only be one of yall or two of yall at a time, and theres all these other people who have different offerings, but they dont see you as unique, they just see you as another one of those things.

Like Jazmine Sullivan. Forme shes one of the best singers in the world, technically speaking and she wrote those songs and those songs are great. But theyre going to make her compete for a slot with SZA, and it doesnt make sense. Theyre not the same thing. Just because theyre thick girls with pretty faces andwrite songs, theyre not the same thing There can be an Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes, and they let it happen, but there cant be two [black singer-songwriters who play guitar].

Can you tell us how you began teachingThe SongVersation Practice classes at Berklee College in Boston?

With The SongVersation Practice, it was a natural evolution of me finding who I am, and how I evolved and as a writer,I wanted to detail it and share it with other people. I was at Marthas Vineyard, I met the head of Berklee and he said Would you ever come to Berklee? Is there something you want to do? I think he asked me thinking Id have to think about it. I said I have something, and he loved the idea.

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India.Arie Talks SZA, Spirituality and 'SongVersation: Medicine': 'Black Singer-Songwriters Haven't Gotten a Fair Shake' - The BoomBox