Taraji P. Henson knows she’s an accomplished actress. She’s won BET awards, NAACP Image awards, a Golden Globe award, a Screen Actors Guild award, and she even has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The veteran actress, who’s appeared in films such as Baby Boy, Hustle & Flow, Hidden Figures, and her latest Muppets Haunted Mansion, recently revealed during an appearance on “Good Morning America” that it was “time for a pivot” in her career, and she’s decided to make music.
“I actually have an EP that I’m working on. Surprise!” she told hosts Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan. Henson explained that she believed she may have missed out on a career in music because she became a mother early in college. However, two of her most recent films — Muppets Haunted Mansion and Miss Hannigan — required her to sing, which reawakened her passion.
“I’m just working on some really good, feel-good music,” Henson said. “I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but it was time for a pivot because I’ve done so many iconic roles, you know what I mean? It’s like, I can’t just, you know…acting it has to be something that excites me and challenges me. Like, Miss Hannigan in Annie, challenges me. That’s musical theater, taking me back to my roots. So, it’s about just continuing to challenge myself.”
“I kept saying that music, I might have missed it because I became a mother so early on in college, but God has other plans for me because the music is just really falling in my lap,” she added. “It started with The Muppets, and through The Muppets, I booked Miss Hannigan, and it just keeps coming. So, I’m gon’ ride the wave. Why not?”
Henson also hinted last month that an EP may be on the way as she arrived on the red carpet for the 2021 Emmy Awards. When E! co-host Karamo Brown asked the Washington D.C. native, “have you ever wanted to cut an album?” Henson replied, “You been talking to somebody? Stay tuned!” Henson made her major singing debut in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow. “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp,” written by Three 6 Mafia and performed by Henson and Terrence Howard in the movie, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2006.
Watch Taraji discuss her upcoming EP on “Good Morning America” below: