Spend just 10 minutes talking with Jessie Reyez, and you'll leave the conversation feeling like you've paid for the best life coach of your life. In every subject we discussed, no matter how small, the Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter doles out wisdom that sounds as poetic as, well, one of her hit singles. Case in point: A seemingly simple story about buying a vintage Goosebumps T-shirt—the R.L. Stine books used to scare her as a kid—ends with an enlightened way to overcome any obstacle: “As I'm getting older and stronger, I found it ironic. Like, ‘Hell yeah, give me that T-shirt. Walk into my fears.’”
But everything Reyez does is in the service of lifting women up, herself included. It's a goal that comes through in every one of her songs, from solo work like “Figures” to her collaboration with Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris, “One Kiss.” “In my music I try to make sure I'm always talking about my story, and my story has a lot to do with healing and getting stronger as a human being, as a woman,” Reyez tells Glamour.
To that end, she's partnered with Secret for the brand's Raise It Up campaign. As part of a $1 million pledge to help foster gender equality, Secret contributed funds to pay for childcare, workforce development, and barrier reduction programs and services for more than 100,000 women and their families. “Secret is an iconic brand that is known for championing and empowering women,” Reyez says. “I'm looking forward to helping 100,000 women by paying for childcare during such a weird time. Contributing money to help foster gender equality coincides with women getting stronger, women getting better."
So what else is inspiring Reyez these days? We talked with the singer for our latest installment of Your Fave's Faves, below.
My style is really relaxed. I'm very low-maintenance by nature. Every now and then it's a little out of my comfort zone, but my closet really consists of things that I happen to like anytime I've been out on an errand or something. I don't really enjoy shopping, but if I'm out and about and, I don't know, a Lauryn Hill graphic T-shirt is to my right in a store I wasn't planning to go into, then it's a score.
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My favorite thing in my closet right now is a double XL Goosebumps T-shirt that I love. It's funny, when I was a kid I used to shy away from Goosebumps because it used to scare the shit out of me. But as I'm getting older and stronger, I found it ironic. Like, “Hell yeah, give me that T-shirt. Walk into my fears.”
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle. I was signing stuff after a concert, and a really dope girl came up to me with the book and was like, “I have a gift for you. I think you're going to love it.” What's crazy is that this didn't happen on the last tour. I've had this book with me for a while, but I haven't had a chance to read it until recently. Life was moving so fast—there was one point where I did three tours in a year—but I finally got into it and highly recommend it. It teaches you how to be much more present and the skills to slow down so you can make more conscious decisions that align with your greater purpose, as opposed to letting your ego autopilot your life away until years have passed and you look around and feel like you're not even connected to yourself anymore.
I learned I need therapy. [Laughs.] I've learned to look at the cup half full a lot more often than I was before because this year gave me a chance to go inward and develop myself inward. I've been doing this thing called Deepak Chopra's 21 Days of Abundance meditation. It's really helping, but it's also showing me that I have work left to do. As much growth as I thought I had done in 2018 and 2019, I realized you're never done growing.
There's so much to be said about a nighttime routine and a little bit of self-love and self-care at the end of the day. It can literally be just five minutes, but it helps so much. For me, it's peppermint and lavender oil on my wrist, nose, and temples right before bed. Peppermint oil is like the Swiss Army knife of essential oils. I use it as a fragrance as well. It helps calm you at night, and it'll help wake you up in the day. Also, if you have a headache, put it on your forehead. It'll help. It's so good.
Also, I use a black T-shirt at night. Eye masks don't work well for me because I move around a lot, so I have an XL black T-shirt that I'll put over my eyes and chill out.
Have a little sheet of paper by your bed or your mirror, and write affirmations and goals down. I feel like everybody should do this, because it helped shift my own life so much. It helped put batteries in my back and make me more focused. How are you going to get to where you want to go if you don't have a map? How are you going to teach yourself how to grow if you're not reminding yourself that you're strong and powerful? If that was something that became the norm—like, if schools taught kids to write their affirmations and goals—I think everybody would be successful. That's how instrumental I think it is. If everybody did it, everybody would be shocked to see how quickly and profoundly everything would shift.
Anna Moeslein is the deputy editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @annamoeslein.
