Global superstar Cynthia Erivo on what to expect from Wicked: For Good and her new album
Oscar-nominated actress and singer Cynthia Erivo says recording her new album last year provided her with "a sanctuary" amid her rise to global super-stardom.
Erivo, who was nominated this year for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Elphaba in the smash-hit musical movie Wicked, has just released her sophomore solo album, I Forgive You.
She told ABC News Breakfast that the writing process for the album took place during the production of Wicked.
"I really got down to it as we were filming," she said.
"Then I was really in the middle of making it when we were on the press tour. So, it took a lot."
Erivo says recording the album proved to be a cathartic experience for her as Wicked propelled her to international fame.
"It was a sanctuary for me," she said.
"It was really lovely to almost re-centre every time I went into the studio, to find little pieces of myself in the music and express pieces of myself, and just even to get back to writing again was just lovely.
"I keep using the word 'freeing', because it was such a lovely way to explore what I could do with my voice and what I could do with music and it's been such a lovely affirming process to be a part of."
The highly anticipated trailer for the sequel to Wicked, titled Wicked: For Good, was released earlier this week. Erivo says she's excited for fans to see part two, which is due out later this year.
"These two women are now grown up. They're now having to deal with some of the decisions that they've made in the first movie, and it's not easy for either of them.
"You have to follow each of their stories and they have to find their way back to each other.
"I feel like this part is quite special because they have to be independent in their ideas, they have to be independent in the decisions they make from now on, and you get to see them both, I think, in their power."
Erivo told News Breakfast host Bridget Brennan that tea is one of the ways she cares for her voice.
"We joke about it but tea is always really helpful.
"A type of mug has always been with me. Lots of hydrating, trying to get as much rest as you possibly can, which is not always possible, but if you offset it with how much you hydrate it should be fine.
"I warm up before every kind of vocal anything, because it sort of makes sure that my vocal cords aren't shocked when I start singing, but just trying to take it easy.
"Sometimes it's time to be quiet, sometimes it's time to talk."
Erivo hopes her new album will allow fans to see her more vulnerable side.
"I don't think I'll ever stop being a work-in-progress.
"I think I'm always going to be growing, I think I'm always going to be learning about things.
"I think I'm always going to look back at certain things and be a little bit mad at myself, or then have to let go of things, and I think that being able to talk about it really frankly and openly was just, like, helpful, just to hear it out loud."
Cynthia Erivo's new album, I Forgive You, was released on Friday.
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