Video: Renée Elise Goldsberry Shares How Her Daughter Inspired Her Genre-Bending Debut Album

Earlier this year, Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry released her debut album, Who I Really Am. Featuring eleven original songs, the album tackles a blend of different musical genres that explore themes of love, heartbreak, and more. The project, she says, was a long time coming.

"I started working on it in 2020," the Hamilton star shared during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "I think I had to figure out, first of all, what genre it was going to be in. Or I thought I needed to pick a genre." Goldsberry then shared how questions asked by her daughter shifted her thinking about the album.

"My daughter said to me, 'Mommy, what's an album?... And before I could make an answer, she said, 'Is it, like, when an artist puts out a lot of songs at the same time? Why would they do that?' And it was freeing to me because I realized all of these things are constructs. There's just no rules anymore. And so I don't necessarily have to not put my storytelling, coffee shop song on there. And I can also put my disco song on there. And I can also remake the song I'm known for, 'Satisfied.'  Check out the clip from the interview, where Clarkson also finds out Goldsberry's age, much to her surprise. 

Goldsberry's new album, Who I Really Am, was released on Friday, June 6. Highlights from the album include the title track, a declaration of identity that sets the tone for the record; “Don’t Want to Love You,” an emotionally rich ballad written by Goldsberry’s Girls5Eva co-star Sara Bareilles; and a new guitar-led remaining of "Satisfied," Goldsberry's signature number from Hamilton.

Goldsberry most recently starred in the acclaimed comedy series Girls5Eva, for which she earned multiple Critics Choice and TCA Award nominations for her hilarious performance as the deliciously self-obsessed “Wickie Roy.” She is perhaps best known for her Tony- and Grammy-winning performance as Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway phenomenon Hamilton (celebrating its 10th anniversary this year), which also earned her an Emmy nomination for Disney+’s filmed version. Her Broadway credits include iconic musicals Rent, The Color Purple, and The Lion King, among countless theater performances.

On screen, she has starred in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Good Wife, Waves, Altered Carbon, Albany Road, She-Hulk, and her breakout, two-time Daytime Emmy-nominated role, Evangeline Williamson on One Life to Live. As a singer and actress, she made her television debut as one of Vonda Shepard’s backup singers across all five seasons of Ally McBeal. Her latest project is the film A House of Dynamite, in which she plays the First Lady of the United States.