Ashanti's Back With New Music

She's baaaaaaack! Ashanti's new album, Braveheart is set to release March 14th after a tumultuous few years trying to get the labor of love produced. Ashanti's last album, The Declaration, debuted in 2008 which meant a depressing hiatus for our ears. The six years without new music was lamentable for sure, but we're reveling in the fact that this album is either going to be amazing or uh-may-zing (there is no middle ground). The Long Island native makes her return to music after testing her skills as an actress, appearing in Lifetime shows and movies such as Army Wives and Christmas in the City. While we're thrilled to see our girl flexing those creativity muscles, we're just glad she's back to doing what she does best, making us swoon over her soulful tunes.

This album has no shortage of collaborations. The Foolish songstress duets with the likes of Keyshia Cole, R. Kelly, French Montana, Meek Mills, Rick Ross, and Busta Rhymes. Basically, we've died and gone to R&B and Hip-Hop Heaven. (Step down, Yeezus, this is what a real religious experience looks like.) The only aspect of this album that sounds even remotely disappointing is that there aren't any collaborations with Ja Rule and, lets be frank, we all truly miss him screaming obscenities our ears. Impressively (and perhaps why it took so long for this album to drop), Ashanti can add entrepreneur to her resume as well. She is producing BraveHeart independently through Written Entertainment, the record label she created. By the looks of it, we think this album will prove successful for both Ashanti and her label.

In honor of her upcoming album, let's take a look at some of our all-time favorite Ashanti songs:

How can you not LOVE Foolish, every heartbroken girl's anthem. We've all been there, girl. We feel you.

I wish I could comb my hair with this much swag. Also, JA RULE.

And let's be real, she STOLE the show in Always on Time.

So dramatic, so fantastic.

What is luv, exactly?

Feels like a follow up to Foolish, except now she's older and wiser (us too, Ashanti).