Soon, Ashanti will find herself joining a list of artists that includes Taylor Swift and JoJo. The Grammy-winning singer recently announced plans to re-record her self-titled album ahead of its upcoming 20th anniversary. She revealed the news during an appearance on the Tamron Hall Show, where she also shared that she now owns the masters to the 2002 album.
“It’s so surreal,” Ashanti said while celebrating the news. “I have an amazing legal team, and I got my first record deal when I was 14 years old, so understanding and seeing how things have changed so much from then to now and conceptually understanding what you’re signing is so imperative, it’s so important nowadays. The fact that I’ll be able to re-record my first album, and put everything together.”
She continued, “It’s so humbling. It is such an honor. I’m so grateful. It’s such a blessing, you know, the fact that we are still here, we’re living through a pandemic, and these blessings are still coming in, it just makes me so happy again, so humbled and such a believer.” Ashanti concluded, “It’s such a blessing, you know, the fact that we are still here, we’re living through a pandemic, and these blessings are still coming in, it just makes me so happy again, so humbled and such a believer.”
The news comes after she made a surprise appearance during Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s Verzuz battle earlier this month. It marked the second time she was on the series, having previously gone up against Keyshia Cole earlier this year.
