H.E.R. To Perform At 2020 Emmys: Who Is She And What Does H.E.R Stand For?
This R&B musician will play a major role in this year's awards.
Jamie Lamor Thompson / Shutterstock This year, the Emmys are definitely going to look different than they did last year — especially with most of the show being done remotely — but there will still be musical performances to look forward to. One of the performers is R&B singer H.E.R., who will be performing during the traditional in memoriam segment, which pays tributes to those in the entertainment industry we've lost over the past year.
But ahead of her performance during Sunday night's show, let's find out more about who the musician is, specifically:
Who is H.E.R. and what does H.E.R. stand for?
H.E.R. is a 22-year-old R&B musician.
H.E.R. has been on the music scene for a long time at this point — ever since she was a kid — and there's no sign of her career slowing down. Earlier this year, she won R&B Artist of the Year at the I Heart Music Awards, and recently appeared alongside beloved characters from Sesame Street on HBO's Not Too Late Show. She scored her first record deal with RCA at the age of 14, and since then, she has released two albums: H.E.R. and I Used To Know Her.
What does H.E.R stand for?
H.E.R. is an acronym for "Having Everything Revealed," and in an interview, she said she was inspired to use the name while she was going through a breakup.
“You can’t avoid heartbreak, you can’t avoid a lot of things. You have to go through them in order to become the person you’re going to be. So, being H.E.R. is just the evolution of being a woman,” she said at the time.
What is H.E.R.'s real name?
At first, H.E.R.'s true identity wasn't revealed, and fans only knew her by her acronym. But in 2017, internet sleuths were able to discover that she is actually Gabi Wilson, thanks to her re-recording a Drake cover that she had already performed when she was younger and Wilson's name being listed on the tracks as a songwriter on her album. Putting the pieces together easily led fans to discover who she really was, though she was able to maintain her anonymity for awhile.
H.E.R already made a lot of pretty big connections.
H.E.R. has plenty of famous friends. She's been pictured with everyone from Billie Eilish to Miley Cyrus, and even shot a spread in Rolling Stone with Lenny Kravitz last year. To say that H.E.R. has accomplished a lot at her young age would be a huge understatement, and there's no doubt she has a lot to look forward to in the future.
She uses her music to talk about her real life and emotions.
In an interview, H.E.R. explained that her music is an outlet for her similar to a diary.
"Sometimes it's an exaggerated version of what I might have felt, and that's fine," she said. "I feel everything so deeply. I'm a Cancer, so I'm very emotional. It's all things I think about: All of these thoughts I pull from the deepest, darkest places, and I guess that's why people love it so much—because they're the things that we're afraid to say."
H.E.R already has multiple Grammy wins under her belt.
H.E.R. has been nominated for a Grammy a total of 10 times, which is huge in itself, but at the 2019 awards, she took home two: R&B Album and R&B Performance. Shortly after, she said she was just excited enough to perform, let alone win, that she'd repeat the day forever a la Groundhog Day.
"The whole day was a peach. I woke up early, like 'Oh my gosh, I’m going to perform at the ceremony', so I got my nails done and had a nap. That’s a great way to prepare for anything," she said.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.