Jamila Woods appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night to perform her single "SULA (Paperback)". The performance came at the end of a very tense and violent day at the United States Capitol, providing a musical salve after a long day of tension. Colbert introduced Woods saying, "On a difficult night, we thought we'd end with a beautiful song."
The song "SULA (Paperback)" is directly inspired by the 1973 Toni Morrison novel of the same name. It is a gentle tune influenced by the lives of the characters, and there is a more rhythmic hard-hitting version of the song aptly titled, "SULA (Hardcover)".
Woods expressed her deep connection to the novel in a statement saying, "“It’s the first Toni Morisson novel I ever read and it inspired the first chapbook of poems I ever wrote. The novel shows the evolution of a friendship between two Black women and how they choose to navigate society’s strict gender roles and rules of respectability. On Sula, Toni Morrison wrote, ‘living totally by the law and surrendering totally to it without questioning anything sometimes makes it impossible to know anything about yourself.’ Returning to the story several years later, it gave me permission to reject confining ideas about my identity designed to shrink my spirit. It reminded me to embrace my tenderness, my sensitivities, my ways of being in my body. This song is a mantra to allow myself space to experience my gender, love, intimacy, and sexuality on my own terms.”
After the performance, the Chicago-based artist tweeted, "[W]hat a wild day...so grateful to everyone who made this performance happen." Watch Jamila Woods perform "SULA (Paperback)" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert below.
