In an era obsessed with 'nepo babies', Vanessa Williams' daughter Jillian Hervey is rising above the stereotype. Hervey, 36, has been making music with her partner Lucas Goodman as the neo soul duo, Lion Babe, since meeting as college students. The music industry is notoriously cutthroat and difficult to break into, but Lion Babe has managed to beat the odds with star-studded collaborations, devoted fans, catchy beats, and even a set at Coachella.
Williams broke into the music world decades earlier and has offered her daughter invaluable words of wisdom that Hervey recalled during an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail.
'Her main advice has just been to stay true to myself and really her just leading by example, just being a person who's always creating, always challenging herself, always, always working,' Hervey said at their show at Catch One in Los Angeles last week. 'She loves working and gives her confidence, and it like is a healthy cycle. So I try to do the same, just stay creative and just keep going. She's very resilient. So I definitely take that from her.'
Lion Babe was born after the couple met at a college dorm room party and they have since accumulated an impressive resume with tracks Treat Me Like Fire, Honeydew, along with collaborations with Childish Gambino, Mark Ronson, Disclosure, and even Williams. In 2024 the mother-daughter duo joined forces with drag queen Trixie Mattell to release BOP!, a disco track with an accompanying music video shoot in London. It's an experience Hervey looks back on with fondness and one that highlighted their musical similarities.
'It was really nice to do a dance record with her,' Hervey - whose father is music producer Ramon Hervey II - said, adding the genre is 'a lot to tread.' 'I don't even know what a ballad would be with us together, but I think I love that as our space, 'cause also she's the one that kind of has led the queer community. It makes a lot of sense for our fans to be similar and everything, and so we're giving everyone what they need.'
As for a future collaboration with her mother, Hervey doesn't have any plans but suspects their next partnership will involve TikTok. 'Who knows?' she said. 'I'm sure! I think the first one will be a TikTok, because she's like Queen of TikTok right now.'
In total, Lion Babe has four studio albums under their belt, including House of Lion Babe, their most recent album released in 2024. 'We have new music coming this summer,' Hervey said. 'We're going to London this summer as well and doing some Pride events, but staying busy and new music soon.'
Between touring and releasing new songs, the musicians have their hands full nowadays - particularly since becoming parents in 2022. Welcoming a child has forced them to change their approach to music making - with time even more precious with a little one back at home. 'Priorities shift and we're just very focused,' Hervey said. 'We really love kind of doing it both. I think when you're a parent, it makes you just sharper, more efficient.'
Goodman agreed they've been having to 'cut the fat' in the studio since becoming a father. 'In general, when you're a parent, you have no choice but to cut the fat a little bit,' Goodman said. 'Because there's only so much time. But it's kind of an instinctual thing. It's not like you don't really force yourself, you just kind of naturally do it, because something happens in the sphere when you got the little ones.'
