Halle Bailey opens up in this week's issue about the real-life inspiration for her music
NEED TO KNOW
After a tumultuous split from ex DDG, she opens up on her debut solo album
The You, Me & Tuscany star says she's doing 'great' on the other side of the ordeal
If music has the power heal,Halle Baileyknows how to harness that power.
Last October Bailey, 26, showcased her angelic alto-soprano on debut solo albumLove? Or something like it..., full of emotionally raw songs like "Alone" and "Braveface." The star sings of betrayal and heartbreak and finding the strength to move on.
In this week's issue of PEOPLE, theYou, Me & Tuscanyleading lady opens up about where some of those painful, powerful lyrics stemmed from.
"It was a lot of my diary entries about my experience through love the past few years," says Bailey, who last year went through a tumultuous split fromrapper DDG(born Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.), 28, with whom she shares2-year-old son Halo.
Initially theirsplit seemed amicable, but later both stars weregranted restraining ordersamid claims of domestic violence and a battle for custody of Halo. She poured her feelings into her music.
On "Braveface" she sings "Sittin' on the floor, curled up in a ball, lookin' in the mirror and I feel so f--- in' small." She says the album is about "coming out of your version of what you thought was love in the moment and looking back and asking yourself, 'Was that love?' Just the journey you go on as a young woman."
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Last October that part of her journey seemed to end peacefully when she and DDGsettled their custody dispute, with both dropping their restraining-order requests and agreeing on terms to co-parent.
Asked how she is now, after it all, she simply answers "I'm great. I'm just grateful to be here." She's also thankful she was able to connect so deeply with fans.
"I was grateful that I got to put that out into the world," she says ofLove?,"It makes me so happy to see people responding to those songs. It literally blows my mind when I can find some version of a creative outlet and have it impact people."
As for her love life now, it's thankfully nowhere near as chaotic as her character Anna's inTuscany. Still, they have a lot in common. "I saw myself in her a lot," says Bailey, "someone who gets it wrong sometimes, but still has the courage and the gumption to get back up again."
And if she's ever in search of a wing-woman, she needn't look any further than her sister. "Chloe's really good at it," she says of her older sister who's skilled in helping make love connections. "She'll be like, 'Go ahead. This is a good person!' I've tried to match me, too, but, you know...yea, she's better at it than me."
Read the original article onPeople