Taraji P. Henson Announces She’s Pivoting To Music, Working On Debut EP

Taraji P. Henson is working on her music debut, she announced on Good Morning America on Wednesday.

She made the surprise announcement during an interview about her upcoming TV special, Muppets Haunted Mansion.

After airing a clip that finds her character Constance Hatchaway performing a duet with Pepé the King Prawn, Robin Roberts complimented the actress on her voice and asked if fans could expect to hear her sing in more roles, Henson replied, “I’m actually working on an EP. Surprise!”

She described the upcoming project as “feel-good music” and explained that she felt it was time to pivot in her career.

“I’ve done so many iconic roles, you know? [With] acting, it has to be something that excites me and challenges me,” Henson said. “Like Miss Hannigan in Annie, that’s musical theater, taking me back to my roots. So it’s about just continuing to challenge myself. I kept saying that music, I might have missed it because I became a mother so early on in college, but God has other plans for me. Because the music is just really falling in my lap. Like, it started with The Muppets, and through the Muppets, I booked Miss Hannigan, and it just keeps coming. So, Imma ride the wave. Why not?”

Henson is set to play Annie’s iconic nemesis in Annie Live!, airing on NBC on Dec. 2, which will only be her second role of the year. On Monday, she released the trailer for the second season of her Emmy Award-winning Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind With Taraji. According to People, the new 10-episode season finds her discussing a range of topics from overcoming adversity to how society forces Black men to mask their emotions. She and host Tracie Jade will be joined a bevy of young voices, including Megan Thee Stallion, Chloe Bailey, Angela Simmons, and rising basketball star Karl Anthony-Towns, who lost his mother to COVID-19 last year.

Muppets Haunted Mansion will be available to stream on Disney+ starting on Oct. 8. The kid-friendly Halloween special also stars Yvette Nicole Brown, Alphonso Ribeiro, and the voices of Craig Robinson and Skai Jackson.

Henson did not specify when fans can expect to hear her music debut.