Candiace feels more confident returning to her musical role, having collaborated with a Howard University classmate.
Motherhood has helped Candiace discover herself as an artist, and she aims for EGOT status.
Candiace is exploring new entertainment avenues like daytime talk, in addition to her podcast and Broadway aspirations.
Candiace Dillard Bassett is on an impeccable post-Housewives run, and she’s telling BOSSIP all about it.
Fresh off of her run on the popular “whodunnit” competition show, The Traitors, launching a podcast, and releasing music, the multi-hyphenate headed back to the stage to reprise her role in Dennis Williams’ musical I’ve Cried The Blues — all while being a mom and wife, might we add.
Bassett made her musical debut in October in Washington, D.C. She returned to the stage in early May for a show stop at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.
The “If Only” singer chatted with BOSSIP about her excitement about returning to the role and her feelings about getting back on stage to take on the role a second time.
“I feel more confident, more prepared. I’m someone who, as a performer, actor, and artist, repetition is like my best friend. I love to do the thing 50 times and then take a break and then do it 50 more times,” she said.
This role is particularly special because the playwright is her Howard University classmate, Dennis Williams.
“It feels otherworldly. I remember being really young and watching the cast of A Different World, and Debbie Allen and other people from Howard University kind of come together, and it’s like, wow, this is so cool that these people study together and now they’re, like, creating the art of a generation,” Bassett told BOSSIP. “And it feels like this is how it was always supposed to be and how it should be. Dennis and I have said for years, ‘Oh, we want to work together.’”
Bassett plays “Miss Lilly,” a lounge singer with big dreams of making it big, despite the barriers of life in the Jim Crow South. The former Potomac housewife feels connected to the role because of her Southern upbringing.
“[I am deeply connected to this story] because it’s a part of my history as someone who has roots in the South, but also as someone who sort of came of age at an HBCU at Howard University, where that history was ingrained in every part of the curriculum.”
On This Post-Housewives Season Of Her Life And EGOT Goals
“This season is busy and blessed, if I had to put it into two words.I feel like I’m busier now without the Housewives than I was when I was in the thick of it. You film for four months, and then you get a little bit of a break while they’re editing,” Bassett told BOSSIP.
“But then once the show airs, you’re doing press. You have to stay sort of in the mix of things as the show is airing week to week. And then you do the reunion, and you have to relive everything again. And then you’re right back into filming the next season. So you don’t really get a chance to rest.”
Motherhood has also helped the Georgia native learn more about herself and her artistry.
“Being a mother and being an entertainer, a performer, I’m an artist to my core. And if I didn’t know that before, I think having this time to really reflect and sit in my art post-Housewives, it just confirmed that I am an artist.”
“ To quote the ancient African proverb, I’m sensitive about my sh*t, as our auntie Erykah said.”
Like many entertainers, EGOT status is definitely on the vision board for the 39-year-old.
“I think every performer would be crazy to not have the loftiest of dreams to become an EGOT. So absolutely, it’d be so great to start in theatre and have a Tony somewhere for a brilliant piece of work that I’ve done. That would be amazing.”
Candiace Dillard Bassett Talks Motherhood And Son Jett’s Milestones
Candiace and Chris Bassett’s son Jett will be two in October, and the reality television star shared how quickly he’s growing.
“It’s crazy to even think about because I feel like we just celebrated his first birthday. And I also feel like I just had him. And I look at him now and he looks so different from when he was just this little blob of a newborn. He’s talking. He’s running around. He’s saying ‘no’ to everything, he’s very opinionated,” the new mom told BOSSIP.
“It’s been so much fun. And as someone who was really unsure about motherhood and really not confident about my ability to be a mom, it’s so refreshing and so satisfying to feel like I’m kind of good at this. I love it, I love being Jett’s mom.”
On What’s Next In Entertainment
Candiace Dillard Bassett is clearly on an impressive run, tackling various entertainment avenues, like her podcast Undomesticated, with even more projects in mind.
“Broadway is definitely something that is on my bucket list. I would also love to try my hand in the daytime talk space. That has been something that I’ve always just loved. Ever since Oprah crashed onto the scene and showed us that we could be reflected in this space,” she said.
“Then, when The Real debuted, I was glued to my TV. I loved that we were looking at a cast of all women of color that were holding their own in this daytime talk space, the ensemble of it all, it was like, ‘wow, I want to be there.’”
