Tamia On 30 Years In Music And Finding Her ‘Forever And A Day’

Tamia On The Freedom That Comes With Time

Getting older hasn’t meant holding on to youth for Tamia—it’s meant letting go of the things that once seemed important and gaining the perspective to know what truly is. “I think it’s all about confidence,” she says of entering her 50s. “As you get older, the things that used to seem so important just aren’t anymore.”

There’s an ease in the way she talks about aging, less like a carefully crafted celebrity philosophy and more like wisdom earned through experience. “You’re just sort of walking in yourself,” she shares. “It’s just about realizing there’s bigger, more important things, and just being grateful.”

She remembers looking back at old photographs and thinking about the insecurities she once carried—ones she would gladly embrace now. “You look back at photos in your 20s, and you’re like, ‘I was insecure about this little thing right here?’ Now I’m like, ‘I’ll take it.’” But that perspective has been shaped by more than age. Tamia has watched friends who seemed to be doing everything right pass away, reminding her that health, happiness and simply being present are privileges.

How “Forever And A Day” Found Its Way To Her

That same ease found its way into the music. “Forever And A Day” wasn’t planned as a comeback song or engineered to fit a particular moment. When the idea of returning to the studio first came up, Tamia wasn’t convinced she wanted to make music at all.

Her manager had been checking in, asking whether she was ready to get back into the studio. “No, not really,” she remembers saying. “Life is lifing for everyone, and I just wasn’t in that space.”

Then longtime friend and songwriter Claude Kelly called. The two had known each other for years and had created music together before. When Kelly suggested they create together, Tamia was open to it—but without expectations. “He’s like, ‘Why don’t we write?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, what do we want to write about?’”

The answer was to simply see what happened. “Let’s not put a label on it. Why don’t we come down and we’ll just write?” Kelly and collaborator Chuck came to Tamia’s home, where they set up a recording space. Instead of arriving with a concept or sound to chase, they spent the weekend together and let the music unfold. “We really just hung out,” she says. And somewhere in that weekend, a song was born.

When they heard what they had created, the reaction was instinctive: “We were like, ‘Wow, I think we have something here.’” There was no elaborate strategy behind it—just friendship, chemistry and creative freedom. “It was very, very organic.”

When Tamia’s Music Finds Its Way Around The World

Tamia saw that power firsthand on her recent sold-out tour in South Africa, where decades-old songs came alive again as audiences sang them back to her.

She has traveled to South Africa for years, but this time, the experience felt different. Looking out at an audience she had never met before, she realized just how far her music had traveled. “I didn’t even really understand that they knew my music as well as they did,” she says. Then they started singing—every song, every word. “And they sang every song, and I was like, ‘Wow.’”

For the singer, the moment captured what makes music so powerful: its ability to bring people together across borders and generations. “Music is super powerful, and it brings people together and it makes people feel,” she says. “When you’re sad, you listen to music. When you’re happy, you listen to music.” There is a song for heartbreak, another for celebration and another for the moments when words fall short. “And I’m just really happy to be a part of that.”

What Quincy Jones Left With Tamia

Long before streaming numbers and TikTok discoveries, Tamia was learning from one of music’s greatest architects: the late Quincy Jones. Early in her career, she had the opportunity to travel the world with Jones, an experience she now appreciates differently.

“You get a record deal, you’re traveling the world with Quincy Jones, and you’re kinda in the moment.” With time, those memories have taken on new meaning. “The further away you get from [those memories], the more you can look back and appreciate. That was an amazing experience.”

Jones taught her lessons that extended beyond music. She watched how he carried himself and navigated extraordinary success without losing his humility. “He really taught me how to conduct an interview and how to be an artist, and how to stay humble no matter the highs of music.”

For Tamia, being around Jones was an education in what comes after the breakthrough—how an artist carries herself when the world is watching. “I got a chance to travel the world with him and learn from the best.”

One Billion Streams, Still No Numbers Game

There is an irony to Tamia’s relationship with success. She recently surpassed one billion streams across Spotify, a milestone that could define a career for many artists. Yet when the number comes up, her first response is almost disbelief: “I had no idea.”

That’s because she has never measured her career primarily through numbers. “If five people come to my show, I’m excited. If 5,000 people come, I’m excited,” she says. “I’m happy that they could have been anywhere but they chose to spend some time with me that night.”

In an era when streams, followers and viral moments are often treated as the ultimate scoreboard, Tamia’s measure of success is more personal: whether she can still stand behind the work. “I can say to you that even 20 years later, 30 years later, I’m proud of the catalog that I have, and I love performing the music still to this day.”

The billion-stream milestone is meaningful, but what interests her more is who is behind the number. A younger generation is finding her catalog through streaming platforms and social media, sometimes decades after the songs were first released. “It’s been kinda cool,” she says.

When “So Into You” Finds A New Generation

Few songs demonstrate that philosophy better than “So Into You.” More than two decades after its release, the track remains one of Tamia’s signature records—and is now finding a new audience on TikTok.

Her two daughters have given her a front-row seat to the resurgence. “I have two daughters, 24 and 19, so they’re right in TikTok,” she says. “They keep me informed on what’s going on.” Is she surprised by the song’s staying power? “A little bit, maybe not,” she says. The reason is simple: “It’s a great song.”

For Tamia, great songs aren’t confined to the era in which they were released. “They transcend generations.” The listener changes. The world changes. Even the meaning of a song can change. But the connection can remain.

A Love Built Beyond The Spotlight

That same authenticity extends into Tamia’s personal life. For years, she and former NBA star Grant Hill have kept their marriage largely outside the machinery of celebrity optics, choosing to simply live their lives. “It’s okay that people don’t talk about Grant and I that much.” she says. “We’re not doing it for anyone else…we are literally just living our lives.”

For Tamia, lasting love isn’t mysterious. “You love each other, you grow with each other.” What matters is having a partner who knows you through the highs and lows and supports the person you are beyond the spotlight. “It’s been amazing to have a partner that he knows me, who’s been through the ups and the downs with me, and that supports me and supports what I love to do and my music.”

Hill, she says, remains one of her biggest champions. “If you spoke to him, he’d be the first person to tell you how great I am.” There’s no grand formula, Tamia insists. Just love, support, growth and communication. “Find someone that will love and support you and grow with you, and honor you, and vice versa.”

Letting The Music Speak For Itself

There will likely be more music ahead, with Tamia acknowledging that an album is likely in the works. But she seems in no rush to force the next chapter—a fitting approach for an artist who has built a career on trusting her own timing.

After more than three decades in music, the bigger story isn’t simply that Tamia is still recording. It’s that her catalog keeps finding new audiences, longtime fans keep showing up, and she can look back on a career spanning generations with genuine pride. The billion-plus streams weren’t something she chased. Neither was the resurgence of “So Into You” or “Officially Missing You.” Even “Forever And A Day” came together when she wasn’t looking to make a statement.

Yet the music keeps finding people. Tamia isn’t chasing relevance. She has built something that doesn’t need to be chased.