Honey Dijon Drops Powerful LP ‘Black Girl Magic’

Honey Redmond, known best behind the decks as Honey Dijon, is renowned for her futuristic and progressive soulful sound. Friday, November 18, the acclaimed artist released her second album, Black Girl Magic.

The LP boasts inspiring spoken word, soulful grooves, captivating vocals, swirling synths, percolating beats and more.

According to Redmond, Black Girl Magic, which she began writing in 2019, was initially inspired by the sounds of New York and Chicago music as well as her experience on the dancefloor as a clubber. Then, in 2020, her approach to the album took a turn. The death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests, the pandemic and President Donald Trump being in office led her to dedicate the album to love, whether for oneself or their community, as well as standing up for one’s beliefs.

“That’s how that album sort of changed from a tribute to my dancefloor roots into a letter to love. At that time, I felt that was what was really lacking—the concept of love and how radical that was,” Redmond says. “It’s a love letter to love.

The producer notes that she aimed to work with multiple female-identifiying writers, particularly female-identifiying voices. The LP features Camilla Washington’s spoken word about love, which kicks off the album. The track “Stand” is about standing up for one’s beliefs, which she calls a radical song as standing up for one’s beliefs can lead to death in some places in the world. The song “It’s Quiet Now” is a personal song that Redmond says is about leaving a toxic relationship and finding self-love on the other side. “Downtown” was written as a tribute to Chicago’s legendary club Music Box, where Ron Hardy would deejay, with Redmond noting that the track is a nod to her clubber days.

Finally, “La Femme Fantastique” is her tribute to Grace Jones, whom she says is her icon. “Grace Jones, for me, is my omega and alpha,” she says. “She combined art in theater and performance art in fashion. A lot of my fashion inspiration comes from [Jones].” According to Redmond, the perfect shoe, bag and coat are what everyone should have in their closet. Confidence, she says, is the greatest asset one can have in fashion. “When you have confidence in how you want to present yourself to the world, it doesn’t really matter what other people think,” she says. “[It’s] just for yourself—not for others.”

To Redmond, Black Girl Magic means “being self-determined, determining who you are on your own terms, regardless of what culture says, what religion says, what your family says. It’s living within your own empowerment.”

“Liberation for Black women is liberation for all women,” she says. “Liberation for Black people is liberation for all people. Liberation for trans people is liberation for all people. When one of us is free, all of us are free, so what all of these movements are about is fighting for our humanity.”