Blue Ivy Carter is begging you to pick up a book. The illustrious 8-year-old mogul has scored yet another bag and added yet another legacy to her name. This time, she’s narrating the audiobook adaptation of Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, the animated short you may recall winning at this year’s Academy Awards — if you can remember pre-lockdown at all. Cherry announced the news himself with a wordless Beyoncé self-titled-esque drop on Twitter. He simply teased Blue Ivy’s golden voice with a snippet. “Dreamscape Presents Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry,” she reads, full of life. “Narrated by Blue Ivy Carter.” Brava! Don’t just give her the Grammy — rename the whole category in her honor. Blue Ivy’s narration is significant not just for who her mother is, but what she represents to other little Black girls, like main character Zuri. Hair Love celebrates and honors the kinks and coils in natural hair, the same kinks and coils grown adults tried to shame Blue Ivy for as a toddler. Throughout the story, Zuri and her dad bond over embracing her hair, a lesson haters have yet to learn. Now, the empowering story has a real-life hero of its own.
Zuri’s adorable family will make HBO Max their home in a new animated series titled Young Love, executive produced by Cherry. The show will follow her, her parents, and their cat as they navigate the tangled mess we call life. As of today, you can listen to Blue Ivy Carter narrate Hair Love anywhere audiobooks are sold or watch the seven-minute short on YouTube now.
