SugarCOAT

122. Tough Act to Follow 🍩

"I'm proud of you, cousin," Monica told me. "You've turned into a legit business person. You better negotiate!" 

Before going to the bathroom, I told her, "You better move my stuff, and don't take anything like you did the last time my stuff was moved!"

Monica left my room as if our conversation had ended. That girl is something else.

Again, time took precedence. Over the course of three weeks: The Sugarcoated Concert movie was filmed, Monica moved her and my things into my house, and Rochelle as my lawyer worked hard on my case against RiSe Records. The results were in my favor. 

The label did not fight it due to the terms and agreements listed in my contract. They will only represent me as their artist for three months after my album is released. I won't lie. I was scared, because I was only thinking about finances, but A.B., Deonte, Zeke, Mr. and Mrs. Rivers, and my parents comforted me with support even though I never mentioned how I was truly feeling.

The days kept passing as I rehearsed for singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl on February 12th. I tried to focus on that to keep my nerves at bay as my album release date approached on February 10th. From several interviews to performances on shows like SNL and The View, I seemed to get more naps in than 8 consecutive hours of sleep. It was brutal, but my team kept me going. As much as they wanted me to go on tour, they knew with my contract ending, it wouldn't happen. When I could get some alone time, I prayed and read the Bible.

On February 8th, Wednesday night, my album release private party for the Jaebirds happened. There were so many people in the building that I lost count. I started with signing merch from posters to T-shirts and taking photos with fans. Next, everyone gathered in the theater to watch the pre-screening of my concert movie that would be available to watch on Hulu the next day. Then, everyone was guided to a room with several tables and buffet-style food to eat. While I and my panel - Hannah my social media person, Kenneth my choreographer; and Ed Paolo my cinematographer for the concert movie - took the stage to answer any questions for thirty minutes. I absolutely adored my fans. No one asked any disrespectful or tasteless questions.

Afterwards, we got food to eat and went backstage to prepare for the last part of this amazing event - listening to my album.

Artist: Jae A.B.
Title: Sugarcoat
Year: 2023
Tracks: 1. Suga / 2. Home / 3. Again feat. Larry / 4. Choose feat. Aja Frost / 5. Mystery / 6. All (extended) feat. Deonte Way / 7. Heartbreaker / 8. Forever / 9. Rose (a poem) / 10. Easy / 11. One / 12. Dreams / 13. Shalom

With the hashtags #sugarcoatalbum and #jaeabmusic, my fans took to their social media to go live, play snippets of my music, and share their opinions. With a room full of people, I was told that their reach was at least 3 million. After an amazing album release party, Hulu presents Jae A.B.'s The Sugarcoated Concert movie was advertised non-stop. 

On Thursday morning, I was informed that it already had a million views. It was projected to be Hulu's most successful and highest rated original show on their platform. Per my team, if it had gone to the movie theaters, it would've been a box office hit. Even with hearing all that, I still didn't feel at ease. So, I prayed and read the Bible.

Finally, the big day was here - my album was out! Monica and I asked Maximo to drive us around L.A. while Monica put her social media savvy skills to work. She posted her review of my album on her YouTube channel earlier this morning, and it was now trending. We spent the whole day looking up reactions and reviews of my album as well as getting pampered at the spa. Going to the spa has become one our things to do whenever we hang out. I was just so happy that I could cry, but that I did not do. I was having way too much fun being entertained by my cousin. I know I'll never forget this moment of my life.