HBO Insecure

listen to Jazmine Sullivan's new song for 'Insecure' (and the great S1 soundtrack)

HBO Insecure

R&B great Jazmine Sullivan has teamed with Bryson Tiller for a new song, “Insecure,” which was written for season two, episode three of HBO’s show of the same name. The song is a nice dose of airy, downtempo R&B, and Jazmine and Bryson sound pretty great together. Listen below.

Update: Contrary to initial reports, “Insecure” won’t be appearing in episode three, but a later season two episode (stay tuned). Episode three airs this Sunday (8/6) at 10:30 PM.

Insecure always has incredible music, thanks to music supervisor Kier Lehman (The Night Of, The Last Man on Earth, The Mick), the show’s composer Raphael Saadiq, and the show’s creator, co-writer and star Issa Rae, whose character Issa Dee raps to herself in the mirror and in the car, and once at an open mic which became a notable plot point of the show (her song “Broken Pussy” is on the official soundtrack and has an official video). To quote Judy Berman writing for Pitchfork, “In this golden age of music supervision, Insecure is perhaps the best example of series that use an inspired soundtrack as a tool for character development.”

One of the show’s directors is Melina Matsoukas, who’s directed major music videos for Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Solange, and others. Season one also featured Solange as a music consultant. Issa talked about how that came to be in an interview with Vox:

It happened because Melina casually dropped it: “Oh, by the way, I was talking to Solange, and I think she’d be a really good music supervisor or consultant for this show.” And I was like, “Bitch, call her right now.”

Then we actually did an interview with her. We disrespected her and had her tell us why she should do it. But she’s so great and down to earth, and the fact that we’re on emails with her asking her for song suggestions for particular scenes blows my mind.

Kier Lehman explained to Complex that Solange isn’t working on the current season though:

Solange is not involved in the second season. During the first season she was working on her album, so she was more sedentary then. Still traveling, but in studios and writing and producing the record, so I think she had a bit more time to help us with the music, by sending us ideas and playlists. But she’s on tour now and I don’t think she has as much time to help.

This new Jazmine Sullivan song isn’t the first time Jazmine’s music has appeared in the show, and so far Insecure has also featured music by SZA, KING, Dreezy, Lion Babe, Cardi B, The Internet, Sampha, Thundercat, Moses Sumney, Anderson Paak, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, GoldLink, Junglepussy, Kamaiyah, Drake, Vince Staples, Abra, and so much more great rap and R&B, often with a focus on underground artists and women. You can listen to the season one soundtrack and a Spotify playlist with 102 songs from the show (already including the new Jazmine Sullivan x Bryson Tiller song) below.

Kier Lehman revealed in an interview with Vulture that season two will also include new music by Miguel. The season has already featured music by NxWorries, Jorja Smith, Dreezy, and more. The first single released from the season two soundtrack was Leikeli47‘s “Attitude,” and you can hear that below too. Kari Faux and TT The Artist also wrote original music for season two, Lehman told EW.

Listen to the new Jazmine Sullivan x Bryson Tiller song, the rest of the Insecure music mentioned above, and a trailer for this weekend’s episode, below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-cNN_SPqL0