H.E.R., Jimmy Fallon Compete in Guitar Solo Battle on ‘Tonight Show’

H.E.R. competed against host Jimmy Fallon in a “Guitar Solo Battle” – which, if anything, was more of a showcase of the musician’s impressive solo-playing skills – on Thursday night’s The Tonight Show.

Calling in over video feed, H.E.R. was tasked with performing three of the most iconic guitar solos of all time: The Guess Who’s “American Woman”, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” H.E.R. passed the test with flying colors, playing along with the Tonight Show‘s in-house band the Roots. Fallon, meanwhile, was given the more “challenging” assignments, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and the chime theme for his home network, NBC. It was about as goofy as you can imagine, but at least Fallon got to show off his post-solo pose of gazing out into the (very small) audience.

Earlier this year, H.E.R. performed at the Roots Picnic Livestream, a virtual version of the band’s annual music festival. She also collaborated with Robert Glasper on the single “Better Than I Imagined,” from Glasper’s upcoming 2021 album. Last month, she spoke to Rolling Stone about the influence of Lauryn Hill’s 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which cracked the Top 10 on our new 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

“You couldn’t say that one song was bad on [Miseducation],” she said. “You could say that you liked one more, that one was your favorite. Everybody had a different favorite. That’s how you know an album is great: when everybody has a different favorite song on the album. It’s not just one song that stands out. Every single song stood out. That’s what I strive for when creating my own album. Literally no skips!”