Laverne Cox has been officially announced as the host for Billboard Women in Music 2025, and we sat down with the star to get her feelings on hosting an empowering night for women, creating her new show ‘Clean Slate’ and more!
Are you excited for her new show? Let us know in the comments!
Are you excited for her new show? Let us know in the comments!
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MusicTranscript
00:00I love being a woman. I think women are the most powerful, amazing humans on the planet.
00:08Shaking your booty.
00:10It's all it takes sometimes.
00:11You're shaking your hair, face, ass.
00:15How many of us have gone to therapy and to healing because we want a man?
00:25I mean, you're no stranger to, you know, hosting red carpets.
00:28You are the front and center of Glitz and Glam.
00:31How does it feel now to be able to host an event that's primarily focused on women?
00:36I love being a woman. I think women are the most powerful, amazing
00:45humans on the planet. The ways in which women have evolved are leading in all areas,
00:52and particularly in music. I'm insanely excited. I mean, the women who are performing,
00:57the women we're honoring, I'm a fan. I'm a fangirl.
01:01And I just can't wait to celebrate and have a party with everybody.
01:04I agree. And I mean, you, of course, are such a pillar of representation.
01:09You so fiercely advocate for humans to be all on the same level.
01:14And I've been noticing myself a big shift, especially in music,
01:19that women get to express themselves however they truly are.
01:23We see it with all the pop girls lately.
01:26Why do you think now is the time where we see women kind of expressing themselves
01:32in their full potential, in their full capacity?
01:34I'm older, so I think about artists like Tina Turner or Madonna.
01:39I think a lot about Madonna when I think about this moment and how much
01:43control she took over her career of every aspect of it and how she was represented.
01:48And more and more women are having that control
01:52artistically. And when they have that control, then it's not about an executive
01:58or someone else telling them what to do. It's coming from them.
02:03And we feel it as an audience. And the empowerment becomes something that's
02:08really real when you can own your masters, when you can have more control and more.
02:13And I think the independent aspect of music, the artists who get to be independent,
02:19have really given space to those artists who may be on bigger labels to kind of
02:24be a little bit freer. And they're leading the way in a lot of ways.
02:28And so that's just really exciting.
02:29I agree. And our lineup this year, I feel like, is a really good depiction of that.
02:32We have Tyla, Glorilla, Erykah Badu, Meghan Trainor, Gracie Abrams.
02:37They are these girls that did not let anyone define them.
02:41They define themselves. They don't fit themselves in boxes.
02:44I mean, I saw you have quite a bit of a reaction to a few of these girls.
02:48Are you loving the lineup this year?
02:49I'm obsessed with the lineup.
02:50It's so, like, Erykah Badu has been a part of my life for a really, really long time.
02:55So much of her music and her image. She's just a fashion icon.
02:59But she's just such a spiritual, like, you just listen and there's just wisdom.
03:05And it feels like the music comes from the heavens. It comes from the spirits.
03:10And that's so incredible. I can't wait to see what she wears.
03:13I can't too. And just, I hope, I mean, just even hearing her speak.
03:18She's anointed. She's anointed and she comes from, everything comes from that anointed place.
03:23Even when she's having fun, even when she's, like, a little silly in an interview or she may,
03:27kind of, read somebody and, like, I just think about, you know, the turban when she came out
03:31with the turban all those years ago and how she's just allowed herself to evolve and be herself in
03:37every aspect and have fun, so much fun with it. And, I mean, Glorilla, what is it? Hair, face.
03:44Everything.
03:46Attitude. Like, she just embodies, like, fun and confidence. And every time I see her,
03:53I'm like, this girl has it locked in. I can't even believe she's new.
03:57Her work ethic, her just, like, love of music and just putting the music out and just
04:03making us feel it. I mean, what do you know about me? You know, it's, she's just,
04:08she's one of those girls.
04:09Hypes herself up in her music too. And I love it. We can all
04:14take a note from her book, you know?
04:15Yeah. The smart artists, if they hype themselves up, then when we're singing along,
04:19we're hyping ourselves up. In this moment too, now, one of the big things I turn to is music.
04:25When the news is just depressing or just catastrophic, I put on music. And music is
04:32that thing, that universal language that can take us there. It can take us to a moment in our lives
04:39that, where we cried or we laughed. And it reminds us of an old lover or a moment in our,
04:45a moment with our girlfriends. And music is just that. It's so powerful and it's so crucial now,
04:54more than ever. Like every aspect of music, but when we can kind of, when I can put something
04:58on and dance to it and like, shake my groove thang. God, I sound so old. Shake my groove thang.
05:05Shake your tail feather.
05:06Take a tail. That's even older. Tina Turner. It's everything. It's everything because it's
05:13like this, like, how do we in the face of the catastrophic, like, find our joy,
05:18find our freedom? And sometimes putting on a song and just shaking your booty.
05:22It's all takes sometimes.
05:23You're shaking your hair, face, ass.
05:28Everything. Everything.
05:29Just to quote Glorilla. Yeah. Shaking it all.
05:32Literally.
05:33It's a really exciting time right now. And I think women are really running-ish. So it's a
05:39really great time to be hosting. I just, I just feel like women are the evolution and women are
05:46setting so many standards around how we should be evolving and changing and growing psychologically,
05:54emotionally, spiritually, politically. And it's a beautiful thing.
05:58It really is. It is. I mean, shifting gears now. I mean, it is just the beginning for you for 2025.
06:06What a year. You have Clean Slate coming out. A really powerful story about, you know,
06:14family dynamics within the trans world. And, you know, you're producing and you're
06:20starring in the show. And I co-created it.
06:22And you co-created it. How immersive was that?
06:25I'm your daughter, Desiree. I've always been Desiree.
06:31So Clean Slate is the realization of a dream 15 years in the making.
06:36I've produced a number of non-scripted and documentary projects,
06:39but it's always been my dream to co-create, produce a scripted program,
06:46film or TV show that I star in. And this is the first time that that's happened.
06:49It's been seven years of pitching. We started working on the show seven years ago.
06:54And finally, February 6th, it'll be streaming on Prime Video.
06:59And it's a story about a woman, Desiree Slate, who returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama,
07:05which happens to be my hometown, and to reconnect with her dad, who she has not seen in 23 years.
07:12She left when she was 17 because she was bullied and she didn't think she would survive because
07:16she was really bullied as a kid. She was assigned male at birth, but knew that she
07:22was trans and she moved away, went to New York, found herself,
07:27transitioned, and now it's time for her to reconnect with her dad and begin the healing
07:33process from some of her childhood trauma that she hasn't fully been able to do in New York.
07:38You have to kind of go to the source. She, like me, earlier in my life, I've gotten better at it.
07:43She's found in her therapy, because Desiree goes to therapy like Laverne does,
07:48and she found in her therapy that she continues to choose unavailable men.
07:52And so her therapist is like, well, maybe you need to go to the
07:55first unavailable man in your life. It always starts from there.
07:58Her dad. And so she's back in Alabama because she wants a man. No, that's not the only reason.
08:05But that's a good, you know, I want a man and I want a functional relationship, so I need to heal.
08:11Yep.
08:11How many of us have gone to therapy and to healing because we want a man?
08:16And it's always that. It's always like some breakup or traumatic event within a man,
08:21and then they're like, what is your relationship with your father like?
08:24And it's like, all right, well, let's buckle up.
08:26Yeah. And the beautiful thing about it is that it's funny, and really,
08:30ultimately, it's a show about family, and it's about a father's unconditional love for his
08:34daughter. I should note that it's Norman Lear's final family comedy, the legendary Norman Lear.
08:40We met seven years ago and pitched the idea to him and he came on to produce with us. So we got
08:47to go into pitch meetings with the legendary Norman Lear. He was 96 years old when we met him.
08:51All the more special. Wow.
08:52So I really want to honor Mr. Lear. Well, he didn't like to be called Mr. Lear. Call him
08:58Norman. To honor Norman and just how he immediately said yes to this story and his legacy, to be a
09:07part of his legacy. I grew up watching all of his shows, like Good Times at Jefferson's, Facts of
09:12Life, One Day at a Time, What's Happening, All in the Family. I watched all of these shows,
09:18and these shows changed culture. And to be a part of that legacy with Clean Slate is,
09:24I just got goosebumps. So thank you, Mr. Lear. Thank you, Norman, for supporting us.
09:30And I feel his spirit with this.
09:33100%. I mean, all the more healing. I think that's a big theme that really stuck out to me
09:38in this, is very rarely does somebody get to create a story that connects with them.
09:46Relive it in some ways.
09:48Which is hard. There are stories in the show that are taken directly from my life,
09:52I won't tell you which ones. Really?
09:54They're actual things.
09:56Was that a good, did you like doing that or did it make it a little hard?
10:01When I was working with Dan and we were just coming up with the storylines, I was like,
10:03oh my God, this happened. And so when we were coming up with the show and this return to
10:06hometown, I knew I had to have the church in because church is a huge part of my life.
10:12It was a huge part of my life as a kid. My mom, black folks in the South, church is everything,
10:18so a new church needs to be a big part of it. I knew all the stories, there's so many stories
10:24that we know from church specifically. And the house, the scenic design, I was triggered every
10:31day. It's fun coming up with the ideas, oh, this will be great, oh, this will be awesome,
10:35but then you have to live it as the actress. I wasn't prepared for how triggered I would be
10:41stepping into it. And then, so they're really grounded, serious moments, but it's also a
10:46comedy and I'm working opposite a legend, George Wallace, and he's just funny. He wakes up funny.
10:55So finding my own rhythm with him was really challenging. It's one of the hardest jobs I've
11:01had, I think because it's just so close. The closer something is, the more intense it is.
11:09I'm so, in this moment now, I'm just so grateful that I got to be a part of
11:16casting and putting a writer's room together, a really diverse writer's room, a really diverse
11:21crew. We had trans folks in hair and makeup, in wardrobe, on the crew. Our writer's room was like
11:28all people, all queer people, people of color, people from the South, trans people. We wanted
11:35a Southern thing, too. We wanted authenticity, so it wasn't just about race, class, gender. It was
11:39also like, are you from the South? Culture, yeah. Did you go to the church in the South?
11:43So we had writers who had that lived experience, so all the colors. I knew what
11:50the storylines would be, but just lines and nuances that our writers would come up with,
11:54I was like, oh, that's so good. It comes from knowing. It comes from knowing. And to hear our
12:00writers say that in jobs they've had since Clean Slate, they feel like they have to put parts of
12:05themselves in the closet or not bring their full selves to work, but with Clean Slate, they
12:10could bring all of themselves. Special. That is deeply special, and those are the kinds of
12:15environments I want to create. I was about to say, the biggest compliment, and must be encouraging
12:19for you as you move forward in your storytelling, your production, acting career, to want to create
12:27spaces like this for everyone to feel hard on the table, hard on the scene, I guess.
12:33What connects us is the ways that we struggle. Everybody's struggling with something,
12:38and I hope that folks can watch this show and understand some way that they can connect with
12:45these characters and just family. I love that. I love that, and it kind of leads me to my last
12:52question, which is, I mean, one you've likely heard before, but I think especially given the
12:57context of Clean Slate and everything you've accomplished. What would you tell young Laverne
13:03if you could go back now?
13:08It's often the same thing. I think it depends on the age of young Laverne, but I think it would be
13:14everything that is happening right now is for a reason. You might not understand the reason now,
13:21but you are divinely led. This is very difficult, but without a test, there's no testimony. You're
13:28being tested now. Everything that's happening is a lesson for you to learn to take into
13:36your higher powers dream for you, and there is a bigger dream for you. Don't ever forget that.
13:43Don't let that go. That dream is for you. It's waiting for you on God's time, not your time.
13:50Oh my goodness. Literally church here. Well, you didn't even need a church in Alabama. You were
13:56running it on your own. Well, I've always said that I left the church. I'm no longer religious,
14:00but I never left God. I never, you know, in going to college and questioning, like,
14:06organized religion, I certainly questioned that, but it was never, ever a single moment in my life
14:11where I had a doubt that there is a power greater than me. There is a God. There's a higher power
14:15that I am divinely guided. I've never had a doubt, ever. Neither do we, and I mean,
14:21thank you so much, Laverne. I can say personally, like, thank you so much for how you've inspired me
14:26and how much you've inspired my loved ones who are trans. Like, you are such a powerful force
14:33in entertainment and in the world beyond, and I'm so excited for you to be hosting Women in Music.
14:38I can't wait to see you there. I'm so excited. I'm just like, how many wardrobe changes can I do?
14:43As many as you want. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. As many as possible.
14:48I love it. Well, thank you so much, Laverne. I can't wait. Thank you.