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Adrienne RaquelAs Justine Skye looks back at 2018, she’ll never forget that one time she performed a tribute to one of her idols, Janet Jackson.
In August, when Jackson received the BMI Icon award in Atlanta, Skye sang Janet’s 1987 #1 hit, “Let’s Wait Awhile.” She recalls how shocked she was that Janet was actually in the audience watching her.
“When I got on that stage, and I looked into the crowd, she was sitting smack dead right in the middle staring at me smiling, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is so insane,’” she tells ABC Radio.
“She thanked me,” Skye adds. “Just hearing Janet Jackson say my name was like, ‘OK. That’s cool. That’s a great story for my grandkids.’”
The 23-year-old singer’s latest release is “Build,” a song based on her own experience as a victim of domestic violence.
“A lot of women have reached out to me and expressed that they too…have been through the situation or are currently going through it, and that this video’s helped them realize their worth and to get out of it,” Skye says.
Skye grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and she was recently honored with the “Strength” award from the BELA Charter High School in Brooklyn.
“It just made me feel like good that there were like, these little girls looking up to me,” she says.
Justine spoke with one student who is an aspiring artist, and it reminded her of when she was in high school.
“I saw a lot of myself in her and just, like, a lot of the girls that were in there…[they were] young and ready for the world.,” she says.
Skye is now recording a new EP, Fall For It, which she plans to release early next year.
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Forget grandkids great jackson janet Justine never performing story That's tribute
