About Love Myself (The High Note)

In The High Note, Ross stars as Grace Davis – a famed singer who is at a crossroads in her career. Dakota Johnson plays Davis’ overworked assistant, who also aspires to be a music producer. When Davis’ manager (Ice Cube) presents the singer with a choice that could alter the course of her career, the two women come up with a plan that could change both of their lives forever. In her Instagram Live premiere last week, Ross, whose mother is Motown legend Diana Ross, revealed that she had always harboured a secret passion to be a singer. As she debuted the song to her followers, including former first lady Michelle Obama, Kerry Washington and her mom, Ross said that singing “Was a childhood dream that I tucked away, and it then became one of my biggest fears”. She continued, “I faced that fear in this movie in a really big way”.

One might assume that Ross modelled the character of Grace Davis after her famous mom. However, Ross confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that there are few parallels. “The story really has nothing to do with any of the things that I know from my mom’s experience. Except for the fact that there’s a real humanity to this woman and she’s not a paper-thin quote-unquote diva that the world usually paints larger-than-life women as”, she said. “She’s a real person. That’s the only connection that I can draw. That a woman who holds a great space in the world is actually a human with a heart, who has fears and disappointments and struggles all on her own.” Despite her famous mother, the Emmy-nominated actress has paved her own career path in shows like Girlfriends and Black-ish. She is also an entrepreneur (founding the hair care line, Pattern Beauty), and an executive producer (she co-created the hit ABC TV show Mixed-ish, along with Kenya Barris and Peter Saji). Now, the multi-talented Golden Globe winner shines yet again as a singer in The High Note, where she performs a mix of original and classic material. The music for the film was helmed by an all-star team. ‘Love Myself’ was penned by Sarah Aarons – whose credits include songs for Alessia Cara, John Legend and Khalid – and Greg Kurstin, who has written for Paul McCartney, Pink and Céline Dion, among others. The 15-song soundtrack – which features new recordings by Ross and co-star Kelvin Harrison, Jr, as well as classics by Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway and Maxine Brown – was produced by Grammy Award-winner Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who has worked with everyone from Sam Smith and Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber and Mary J Blige.