“I shouldn’t have to heal from you.” – Robin G

That line in Robin’s G new release, Trusted You, washed over my conscious, digging up old memories that I thought I had buried deep enough that they could never be excavated. But that one line brought them back as I thought about the baggage from him that I was still dragging around from place to place, relationship to relationship, never seeming to be able to outrun the ghosts from my past relationship. But I was older, wiser, stronger? Right? Surely, I still didn’t have to heal from him? As I listened to I Trusted You, laced with the powerful voice of Chanson Calhoun; the memories came back like a tsunami. I remember the phone call. The other woman knowing my boyfriend in a way they should not know my boyfriend. I remember his face. Him trying to explain, trying to hold me, trying to convince me to believe the lies he was telling me. His touch didn’t feel right. Nothing felt right. The room seemed like it was spinning. That day I cried as I had never cried before; my soul hurt. I finally understood heartbreak because it felt like my heart was actually shattering into a million pieces. 

That was decades ago. I don’t believe I have ever trusted someone fully again. 

Years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Robin G at a poetry event. I cannot recall the year or the venue. Still, I remember the young woman with the outgoing personality, infectious laugh, standing in stilettos, commanding the room’s attention as her words melted into the microphone. Her poetry was seductive, sensual, and erotic. Many dubbed Robin the Mistress of Erotic Poetry. However, Robin is not one to be placed in a box- she is ever-evolving, and just a few years later, she released Because I’m A Woman- an ode to women to remind themselves of their power and strength. Robin performed the piece with a delivery that was a combination of slam poetry and femininity that no one could deny. She started hosting many events, and her poetry was heard on stages throughout the country, with many women taking on one line of the poem, “I Do This,” as their own personal mantra. Robin reminded women that as because we are women, we can do anything.

But what do you do when heartbreak collides with your poetry?

What do you do when you get the phone call from the other woman?

What happens when a woman slides into your DM’s to let you know the person you sleep with every night has also been sleeping with them?

What happens when you see the text messages?

How do you process it when he is telling you the same things he tells her?

What do you do when the person you expected to spend your life with has shared themselves with another person?

What do you do when the love you had all seems like a lie?

How do you start to rebuild when the trust is broken?

For Robin, she immediately went to the studio and wrote every poem for her second spoken world album, I Love You But Not Like I Love Me. As Robin G stated, “Turning pain into poetry is my superpower.”

Each piece on the project is written in real-time, so the listeners go on a journey with Robin as she faces the reality of betrayal, love lost, and broken trust. This is not poetry with a pretty polished presentation. This is pain in real-time. It is looking at pictures of the other woman wondering what she had that you didn’t? It is facing the multitude of questions you ask yourself when trust is broken; “Was I really that naïve? Was I stupid? How did I not see? What did I do wrong?”

It is real. It is raw. It is redemptive.

Robin removes the curtain and allows the listeners into a corner of her life that many people would hide. Robin G is Because I Am A Woman. She told us we could do anything and we could be anything because we were women. Betrayal doesn’t happen to women like her, right? But it does. In fact, it happens to many of us. In her poetic vulnerability, Robin shows us that all pain has a divine purpose, rebuilding after trust is broken is possible, and most importantly, that falling in love with yourself is the first step to healing.

Robin G has exposed a chapter of her life that most would have kept hidden. But she understands that by being vulnerable, she allows other women to come forth with their stories because we all have them, and we have permission to heal ourselves and love again.  I applaud Robin not just as a woman or poet but as my friend. Exposing yourself, your heartbreak and your pain is never easy. However as an artist Robin understands that our brokenness at times creates pieces of a puzzle not just for us to be delivered but for others to be set free. Robin understands that is not the shame and secrets that free us, it is revealing the truth that rebuilds us. I Love You But Not Like I Love Me is Robin’s story but she makes it personal for all women so that we can continue to heal, grow and know that love after betrayal is possible.

Trusted You will be released Friday, April 30, 2021, on all streaming platforms and is now available for preorder. Robin G is an author and also an entrepreneur as the creator and founder of The Stanza Collective.