Lauryn Hill's Daughter Selah Marley Drops Debut Single
Lauryn Hill’s daughter Selah Marley — the granddaughter of Bob and daughter of Rohan — is now ready for the spotlight. After modeling for Ivy Park, Yeezy, and Rag & Bone, the 19-year-old releases her first musical outing in the form of “Breathe.”
Produced by KPR and featuring IDKHIM, “Breathe” finds Marley’s soulful vocals over an atmospheric track for just over three minutes. “I was always on my own,” she sings. “So just know that I have grown / But you need to watch the throne.”
Speaking with W Magazine, the former New York University student says that the track is an important statement.
“Essentially, that song for me is me standing up for myself–or more standing up to myself,” she said. “Because it’s clear I’m talking about some guy, some love interest that I’m not dealing with anymore, that I’m over it. We’ve been going back and forth all this time, I was chasing you, and now I’m done. After so much heartache, you’ve decided to come back into my life, and it’s basically saying, ‘Listen, boy…’ It’s me going from a very hypersensitive emotional state to indifference.”
As she begins her career, Marley says that her famous mother has been a source of inspiration and guidance.
“My mom has been a guiding light,” she explained. “In the sense of creativity, she always told me not to rush. She always told me to take my time. The industry is scary; there is so much pressure on these poor 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, because once you drop one thing, it’s like, ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ The industry is not stable. It feels like you have to keep up, because you always feel like you’ll be forgotten. … She actually texted me the other day about that! She said, ‘Selah, you are enough! You don’t have to be some guru or number-one Grammy [winner], you are enough as you are.’ That meant a lot to me. With my mom there is [duality], because on one side you’re my mom, and on the other, ‘You’re Lauryn Hill.’ Sometimes we have conversations that are Lauryn Hill to Selah and other times we have conversations that are mom to daughter, and both of those are fused. Because while we’re having a mom-to-daughter conversation, it’s also mentee to teacher. It goes both ways. It’s cool because at the end of the day I have someone who understands.”