The songs that I choose, a lot of them reflect conflicts that I'm dealing with, inner conflicts.

I almost believe that what's happening in the song is real and is happening to me.

It's no longer fiction at all.

It's, like, actually, legitimately happening, and it can take a toll.

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪♪ Hi.

I'm Cécile McLorin Salvant.

And this is how art changed me.

One of my favorite memories around my family, my family's reaction to my career and my music, is just this image that I have of, like, my parents didn't know I was walking in the room, and I remember them dancing to one of my songs.

And that was just so incredibly moving, so beautiful to kind of be a fly on the wall and see them -- see them move to my music.

I mean, that really meant a lot.

I was just watching some home movies the other day that my mom found.

Every single video that she had of me as a little baby, of my sister, there was always music in the background.

We were always dancing.

In a way, I almost can't imagine a world without the arts, because...

I have some moments, like sometimes after a tour, where I get really low and get really depressed, and those are moments without the arts.

Those are moments where the arts is the only -- like the -- Consuming art is the only thing that can get me out of it and engaging with art, making something.

I know what this -- It's like a certain kind of emptiness and a feeling of, just everything kind of falls flat.

There's a lack of purpose.

I mean, music is something that has been proven to, unlike anything else, get us moving -- Get our bodies moving, get our memories moving, get our minds moving.

I mean, this has been studied by countless scientists.

I even remember seeing this with my grandma.

She had a pretty -- Like, she was dealing with Alzheimer's.

And she was not remembering a lot of things, but she was remembering the music, and she was -- You could see her wake up.

She was sort of fading away, but you could see her wake up to the music, if we played something for her that she knew or -- I mean, and it's a real thing.

That's when you realize that this is not just about vanity and about, you know, people congratulating themselves for being such great artists.

Like, there's that, too, but there's also this real engine.

It's like an engine for the world.

And when we don't have that -- I mean, we can't not have that.

I think it's -- In a way, it's like it's impossible, because someone somewhere will make something, and someone somewhere will sing something.

It's like we're compelled to do it.

We have to.

I have a tendency in life to be kind of a people pleaser, and I'm really hesitant to speak my mind fully and directly.

And for me, singing and music has been a way to really be direct and say what I mean and what I feel.

I wrote a song called "Obligation" which talks about this feeling of being obligated to love someone, this feeling of being obligated to have sex with someone, and all of the implications of that.

Those are things that I -- I'm afraid to talk about some of these things in life and with my speaking voice, but somehow singing them, it's just, it's easier for me to express some of these darker, scarier things.

There's so many different ways to express these emotions that feel maybe a little too earnest in real life.

And I'm pretty cynical and sarcastic, so that goes in there, too.

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