Watch Erykah Badu Perform in a Raucous Club Scene from August Wilson's Film Adaptation of 'The Piano Lesson'

Erykah Badu is returning to a screen near you.

The singer has immersed herself deeply in the upcoming film The piano lessonco-producing the music as well as being cast as bandleader Lucille at the famous Pittsburgh Hill District jazz club, the Crawford Grill. In a clip shared exclusively with Bulletin boardthe superstar curates a high-energy jazz performance, with patrons flooding the dance floor to groove to the tune.

Badu has previously acted in films and TV series, among others What do men want?, The Earth, Hand of God and more.

The Malcolm Washington-directed film, adapted from August Wilson's 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, also stars Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler and Corey Hawkins. in Badu. Set in 1936 after the Great Depression, the story follows the Charles family as they clash over an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by a slave ancestor. As a result, they find “elemental truths about how the past is perceived and who defines family legacy,” according to the film's logline.

Denzel Washington and Todd Black are The piano lessonof the producer, while the musical score was created by Alexandre Desplat.

In addition to her portrayal of Lucille, Badu also wrote an essay on The piano lessonthe Assouline companion book featuring exclusive artwork celebrating the making of the film; “It's not a wrong note. That's the first thing you need to understand,” she begins, sharing her personal journey with her own musical family heirloom, a piano from her grandmother. “Every time I pushed down [on the keys]even when the sound wasn't “right” by some textbook standard, I felt the vibrations of truth. These so-called wrong notes? It was the universe whispering secrets, showing me paths no one else could see.”

The book will be available upon request here from Friday (November 22), the same day The piano lesson Netflix hits. Watch the exclusive clip from the film above and read Badu's full essay via Bulletin board below.

It's not a wrong note. This is the first thing you need to understand. When my grandmother gave us a used upright piano, made of wood with gold accents and keys yellowed and slightly dull, she wasn't just giving us a musical instrument. He was going through a portal to another dimension, a way to talk to the ancestors.

I was just a little girl of seven, tiny hands reaching out to reach those ivory bones. Every time I pressed down, even when the sound wasn't “right” by some textbook standard, I felt the vibrations of truth. These so-called wrong notes? It was the universe whispering secrets, showing me paths no one else could see.

Fast forward to the set of the Malcolm Washington adaptation The piano lesson. First, I'm there to produce music for the score, but the next thing you know, I'm performing on the club stage, feeling August Wilson's words struggle through me as they did in my days as a theater major at Grambling State. And there's this scene that was really heavy. Berniece is confronted with this haunted piano, a kind of family heirloom with its carved figures, carrying generations of joy and pain. She is afraid and refuses to touch it, as if she will burn her fingers with this whole story.

But eventually, he relents. In order to exorcise the ghost, he enters these keys repeatedly, crying, “Help me, ancestors, help me!” That's when the magic happens. It's not pretty. It is not polished. But it's real. It's raw. And in these “wrong” notes, in this discord of sound and emotion, both Bernice and the trapped spirit find release.