Blue Ivy Carter has been announced as audiobook narrator of Hair Love, based on the award-winning short film by Matthew A. Cherry.
What We Know:
- Cherry shared a sample on Twitter of the 8-year-old daughter of Beyonce and Jay-Z narrating the book illustrated by Vashti Harrison. The tweet from Cherry received a multitude of praise. Majority of users, including Gabrielle Union quote retweeted the post with touched hearts and enthusiasm for Ivy’s involvement with the project.
- Many others also felt proud of Ivy who faced unnecessary critique about her hair and features at such a young age. In 2014 while hosting BET’s 106 & Park, Karrueche Tran joked about then 2-year-old Blue Ivy’s rarely combed hair. She later blamed the network for the tasteless joke putting her in the position to read words coming off the prompter on a live airing with no warning. In a full circle, now narrating a story about loving natural hair like her own and celebrating her Black excellence, Ivy brings an authenticity to the story valued by listeners.
- Hair Love follows the story of an African-American father attempting to do his daughter Zuri’s hair for the first time without his wife. On Audible, the publisher’s summary reads her hair “kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it’s beautiful…Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair – and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.” The short film and book was released last year winning the 2020 Academy Award for Best Short Film and listed as a New York Times bestseller for consecutive weeks. HBO Max ordered 12 episodes of an animated adaption series called Young Love based on the characters from the original story.
- Blue Ivy has already accomplished a number of achievements and it is certain her journey has only just begun. She became the youngest recipient of the 2020 BET Her Award for her work on the song “Brown Skin Girl” and earned a NAACP Image Award for the track as well. She also made an appearance in her mother’s visual album Black is King. Beyonce’s efforts to trademark her daughter’s name does not come as much of a surprise with Ivy’s emerging success at her young age.
The audiobook produced and published by Dreamscape Media is now available in the U.S. and Canada.
