There ’ s no one particular type of dog that Ball favors over another . “ It ’ s just like a man – you gotta be cute to me ! ( Laughs .) You hear somebody say , ‘ Oh that ’ s an ugly dog , he looks funny !’ If I think you ’ re cute , it ’ s all good !” And after unfortunately being bit by a dog years ago , Ball is understandably cautious at first around dogs . “ I was just chilling in the neighborhood , singing — maybe I was singing too loud ! But a neighborhood dog I saw every day that never attacked me before came up to me and just randomly attacked my leg — it was crazy ! I was like , ‘ Wait a minute !’ It scared me for years and I don ’ t trust all dogs just because of that experience . I ’ m definitely not going to walk up to a big ol ’ dog and be like ‘ Come here doggie !’ No ! I ’ m going to ask the owner if I can touch it or just look at it and admire its cuteness ; I don ’ t have to touch something just ‘ cause it ’ s cute . ‘ I was just singing my damn song ! You bite my leg like that !’ He wasn ’ t a fan , that ’ s the only thing I could say .”
Encouraging people to welcome dogs into their lives by fostering , adopting and even visiting dogs in shelters to share the love is important to Ball . “ Humans and dogs are definitely mutually beneficial to each other ,” says Ball . “ I just told my bandmember Albert how dogs really do help , since feelings go up and down . I had a bad day and I rolled straight over to Zeus ’— I didn ’ t want to talk to a friend , I didn ’ t want to talk to my mom . I knew I wanted the affection , the sweetness , the nonjudgmentalness of dogs . If people don ’ t have a dog ’ s love in their life , they ’ re missing out on a good friend . And you give them an unselfish love that you didn ’ t even know that you had inside of you to give . Dogs are our other living beings on this earth , living with and amongst us . It would be great to treat everything with due respect . We have a way of not paying much attention to people who don ’ t speak the same language as us and we do that with dogs as well .”
The GRAMMY ® -nominated Red Balloon was spawned during the pandemic lockdowns , and while the album explores some heavy hitting subjects — like the slave trade on the song “ Stolen Fruit ” — listeners come away with feelings of ebullience and hope thanks to the sonic joy buoying the words and the celebratory beauty of Black life . Featured guests on Red Balloon include Big Freedia , Wayne Brady , Trombone Shorty and Lalah Hathaway and the album continues to garner tremendous accolades ; even Michelle Obama
Come Adopt Your New Best Friend !
Photo by Justen Williams
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