"I like to sing very much"
About this Quote
It lands like a shrug, but it’s really a thesis statement disguised as plain talk. “I like to sing very much” is almost aggressively simple: no grand claims about destiny, no tortured artist mythology, no self-branding. For Della Reese, that restraint is the point. She frames singing not as a gift bestowed by the universe, but as a practice rooted in pleasure - an appetite, a choice, a craft you return to because it feels right.
The subtext is confidence without theater. Reese came up in a music economy that demanded virtuosity and spectacle from Black women while also policing their “attitude.” Saying she “likes” to sing sidesteps the usual performance of suffering or divinity. It’s a quiet refusal to audition for anyone’s narrative. She doesn’t need to justify the work with a sob story; she doesn’t need to inflate it into a spiritual slogan. The understatement reads like an artist who has already proven the hard part.
Context matters: Reese moved fluently from gospel to jazz and pop, then into television and later ministry, carrying a voice that sounded lived-in. This line echoes that versatility. Singing isn’t a single identity; it’s something she does, repeatedly, because she wants to. In an era when musicians are pushed to explain themselves in “authenticity” soundbites, Reese’s sentence feels radical: the motive is joy, and joy is enough.
The subtext is confidence without theater. Reese came up in a music economy that demanded virtuosity and spectacle from Black women while also policing their “attitude.” Saying she “likes” to sing sidesteps the usual performance of suffering or divinity. It’s a quiet refusal to audition for anyone’s narrative. She doesn’t need to justify the work with a sob story; she doesn’t need to inflate it into a spiritual slogan. The understatement reads like an artist who has already proven the hard part.
Context matters: Reese moved fluently from gospel to jazz and pop, then into television and later ministry, carrying a voice that sounded lived-in. This line echoes that versatility. Singing isn’t a single identity; it’s something she does, repeatedly, because she wants to. In an era when musicians are pushed to explain themselves in “authenticity” soundbites, Reese’s sentence feels radical: the motive is joy, and joy is enough.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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