Erykah Badu on the joy of being a kid and playing on your own

“I had friends, for sure. Lots of them. But I still really enjoyed, mostly, being alone and going home and getting under the dining room table after school. And there was this long cloth over it. I had all my colour books and crayons and snacks. And I just liked it. I was always making something or building something that was a secret.”
— Erykah Badu

One of the things we need to learn when we’re growing up is the distinction between loneliness and being alone. They are very different things.

The singer and actor Erykah Badu made this comment during an NPR interview in 2024, while she was promoting a project on Netflix.

I responded to this part of the interview. I grew up in a house with just four of us, but grew up in a neighbourhood in St. John’s that, at the time, was just crawling with children. Tons of them. There were enough kids to form soccer or baseball teams on short notice for a pickup game.

And yet, I also remember the fun of being young and alone, picking at things growing in the garden, reading a book and, yep, colouring sheets under a table or (more likely in my case) the desk in my dad’s den.

While Badu is still performing, her career and life have taken some turns. More than two decades ago, she became a doula, working with families at the very beginning a life. I love that families call her “Badoula.” She has also become a death doula, sitting with people in their final moments.