“India!”
A single male voice rang out through the silent audience.
“Will you marry me?”
India.Arie stopped tuning her guitar and smiled.
“You’re gonna have to put an application in with my daddy,” she said, laughing.
Self-professed queen India.Arie, 25, was honored with a family reunion of sorts on Saturday.
In an effort to show her ties to MSU, her daddy, former MSU basketball superstar and pastor Ralph Simpson came on stage to honor his daughter before she began the concert.
India’s mother, Joyce Simpson, also appeared on stage as a sort of reunion with her former bandmates of the Montclairs, who opened for Stevie Wonder on that very stage in 1971. Simpson grew up in Lansing, and her mother, India’s grandmother, Ernestine McMullen still resides there.
About 100 relatives of India.Arie in the audience to show their support for the singer and songwriter and seven-time Grammy nominee.
But audience members showed little respect for this part of the program and became restless. Chants of “India! India!” broke out and hecklers began yelling rude comments toward end of the family-oriented ceremony. It was clear the majority of the thousands of people that attended the concert came to see India, and India only.
After a little more than a half hour, India emerged dressed in light pink from her headdress to her full-length skirt. She sang about 15 different songs with only her voice and the aid of her guitar. During some songs, India was accompanied with two backup singers, a percussionist or a few other guitarists.
With confidence and poise, she began the concert singing about women who came before her and paved the way for artists like herself. The emotion in her voice reverberated off the walls of the MSU Auditorium, and her choice of clothing flowed with the mood of her music.
There was an informal feel to the concert, perhaps because India stopped playing to take off her ring, or perhaps because she excused herself to take her chewing gum out of her mouth while chatting with the audience. Jennifer Lopez may have coined the phrase, “I’m real,” but it better fits India. If she were any more down-to-earth or humble, she’d be playing concerts for free.
India experimented with songs on-stage and even warned the audience that she was trying out songs she was working on. Three generations of McMullen’s, her mother and her grandmother, Ernestine, even joined her on stage.
She ended the program with what she said was her favorite song, and most honest to date. “Ready For Love” illustrates her fears and hopes for finding someone. The power and force from India’s words made more than one person in the crowd sway and sing along with her, some crying.
She stressed her feelings about the power of words, and unlike the manufactured pop-icons of our day, her songs emanate truth and meaning behind the words she sings.
India was right when she said she wasn’t the average girl from your video. She’s ten steps above the average girl from a video. She best described herself when she sang “because I am a queen.” India.Arie, you truly are a queen.
