Jussie Smollett: ‘Empire’ Star Sizzles While Singing ‘You’re So Beautiful’ At TCAs
Empire actor Jussie Smollett sizzled during his performance with Bryshere “Yazz the Greatest” Gray at this year’s Teen Choice Awards. Smollett and Yazz sang “You’re so Beautiful.”
Dressed in white, Smollett started off the song with his smooth voice with backup dancers surrounding him. Yazz, soon after, took the stage to rap some verses. But Jussie and Yazz weren’t the only Empire actors onstage. Midway through the song, their co-star, Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Becky on Empire, joins them and busts out some moves, as The Wrap reports. Sidibe is best known for her breakout performance in the 2010 film Precious, for which she was nominated an Academy Award. Becky is the sassy assistant of Lucious Lyon in Empire, played by Terrence Howard.
“You’re So Beautiful” is one of the songs included in the Empire soundtrack, one of the most popular soundtracks for a TV series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Empire soundtrack is the only TV soundtrack to see a No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 in its debut.
It was a good night for Jussie Smollett, who plays one of the Lyons kids in Empire. Smollett plays Jamal Lyon, the second of three sons who struggled coming out of the closet in the first season for his fear of disappointing his father. Jussie and Yazz were both nominated at the Teen Choice Awards for the Choice TV: Breakout Star category.
In an interview in August, Jussie Smollet talked about his character Jamal coming out on the show. Jussie, who also came out in real life on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, says that playing Jamal on Empire is a big deal to him.
“Every time I did that scene it was like coming out again and again and again. Right before shooting that scene I felt very nervous, as if somehow things would never be the same – and they weren’t, yet they were. It’s the same feeling that I had when I did Ellen. It was a little bit scary, but it was freeing. The fan response that I’ve gotten from that scene has been next level to me.”
In addition, Justin Smollett says that he has more in common with Jamal than fans would think.
“My life kind of prepared me for Jamal, because I am the middle son in real life. I am a singer. I have experience the same issues that Jamal has dealt with in his life except my Momma wasn’t in jail for 17 years and may Daddy wasn’t a billionaire.”
All in all, Empire was nominated for 11 categories and won Choice TV: Breakout Show.
Season 2 of Empire will be coming on September 23, and fans can’t wait to see what happens to the Lyons family. There have also been reports of guest appearances by stars including Ludacris, Mariah Carey, Oprah, Alicia Keys, and Chris Rock, which only fuels fans’ excitement all the more.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, the official trailer of Empire Season 2 was met with hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube just a few hours after its release.
Catch Jussie Smollet and the rest of the Lyons when Empire Season 2 premieres on September 23 on Fox.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
