Crystal Renee’ Haylsett on ‘Praise This,’ Musical Ambitions, and Having Tyler Perry’s Support and Mentorship (Exclusive)

Crystal Renee Hayslett is showing the world she can do more than act. The Zatima star is a cast member in Peacock’s newest hit movie, Praise This, and she’s showing off her vocal skills. While this is the first time some fans may be witnessing the powerhouse vocalist she is, music has always been part of the plan. She migrated from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta nearly 15 years ago with dreams of becoming a singer and actress. But landing gigs and a record deal proved to be more difficult than she imagined. Luckily, a colleague was connected to the famed Tyler Perry Studios and suggested that the fashionista get a job in the wardrobe department. She did, and that led to styling, producing, and finally an acting job. Though her initial role was minimal, Perry saw her chops and developed her character more as a central figure before she landed a spinoff. Now, she’s merging both passions of acting and music, and she’s just getting started.

Hayslett spoke with PopCulture.com about her career journey. She also spoke on what’s next for her musically, shining in Praise This, and her transition from a B-character to the lead. And with Perry as a supporter and mentor, there’s no stopping her. Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.

PC: Congratulations on the success and release of Praise This. What about the project did you connect with the most?

CRH: I grew up in the church, so I think that was the main thing. Never had the foresight or the desire to be a First Lady, but I grew up in the church. I grew up in the choir. My mom put me in the choir at age 5, so to get to be a major part of a movie like that was incredible. And that’s what really drew me, too, when they said I get to sing. I was like, “Oh, I’m in. Let’s do it.”

Now, speaking of singing, the film really showcases your vocal ability and you recently expanded upon that with the performance at the Atlanta Hawks game, singing the national anthem, which I am sure is no easy feat. So from what I researched about you, singing has always been a passion of yours and part of one of your goals as far as your career ambition. So talk to us about your journey for you to get to this moment.

Well, I’m from Martin, Tennessee, a very small town in Tennessee, population about 10,000 people, just to paint the picture. I moved to Washington D.C. after college and worked on Capitol Hill for two-and-a-half years and decided that wasn’t for me and I wanted to pursue my passion. My parents always instilled in me, “Get a degree so you have something to fall back on, and then go do what you want to do.”

So I took that to heart, I got my degree and now I’m following my passion. So I moved to Atlanta in 2009, and decided I wanted to pursue music and acting, and I hit the ground running, and it was a very tumultuous journey in the beginning. I was like, “Did I make the right decision?” I was struggling trying to make ends meet, trying to figure it out. And I’m so grateful for my support system. I have an amazing support system. My Uncle Tyrone, who let me live with him and his wife at the time because I was like, “Can I just stay with you guys for a year until I get my feet on the ground?” And he was like, “Absolutely.”

So I was so appreciative to them and then so many amazing people that just either gave me insight or financially helped me or just even that moral support that I needed during that time. And around 2012, my stylist at the time was working at Tyler Perry Studios and she said, “Hey,” she was like, “You already kind of have a knack for fashion. I don’t really have to style you. You tell me what you want, I just go buy it.” And she was like, “You should maybe come work at the studio, because I was looking for a job at the time and I was like, “OK, that sounds good.”

So I started off as a PA at Tyler Perry Studios and continued to audition, continue to do music, and then from there just kept working my way up through the ranks. And sometimes you can get stuck in a place and you forget what you really are there for. And the main reason for me wanting to work there was that I could be around what I wanted to do. I could make money and also study amazing actors that come in and out of those gates. And I was steadily auditioning while I was working. And then one day I got a call saying that Tyler wanted me to be the costume designer for the studio. And I was like, “Whoa, OK, this is a complete detour from what I’m trying to do. And I had to pray about it. I was like, “All right God, is this the way you want me to go?” Because the music industry is one of those things where age matters. Acting, not so much.

So I’m thinking about, “I’m getting older, the acting thing hasn’t really hit, but my music is kind of going somewhere, but not to where I want it to be within this amount of time that I’ve been pushing for it.” So I ended up working with Tyler, taking the job, and then not long after that got asked to be his personal stylist. And at that point, I had to really stop auditioning because it was like, “OK, now you really can’t do anything else if you’re going to take this job.” So I styled Tyler for five years and did not audition for anything. Had auditioned for some stuff at TPS before, didn’t get it. And then Sistas came about and from there I talked to Tyler. I said, “Tyler,” I said, “I never told you this, but I came here pursuing acting and music.” And he was like, “What?”

He knew I could sing, but he didn’t even know that it was a real passion. And he was like, “OK, let me see what you’ve done.” So I showed him some self-tapes because when self-tapes are really starting to take off and a self-tape is where you can tape your audition from your own home or you can go somewhere and tape it and send it to the casting director. And he was like, “Oh, I can work with this.” And I was like, “Really?” He’s like, “Yeah.” And from there he’s like, “I got something small. What you do with it is up to you. She can stay as small as you want or she can go as big as you make it.” And that small thing was Fatima. And as you see, she started off Season 1. Nobody knew who she was. It was just Andy’s secretary and now she’s a household name. So that’s kind of like the journey that got us to where we are now.

How hard was it for you not to blur the lines of what your ultimate goal was and then obviously working in the industry and having access to all of these things? But as you mentioned, you never spoke to Tyler Perry about what it is that you ultimately wanted to do, I’m assuming out of fear to not shake the boat too much or anything of that sort?

A part of that not telling Tyler or asking Tyler was because when you work as a stylist, it’s a very intimate position. You are around that person all the time. And my thing with him, I love that man so much and I wanted to make sure I created a safe space for him. And I see every day somebody’s like this, “What can you do for me? What can you do for me?” And I never wanted to be that. Even with Will Packer, he’s married to my cousin and she was like, “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” And I’m like, “I didn’t want it that way. I wanted to work for it.” And it wasn’t until I felt that God was saying, and I know it was a voice of God because of how everything has panned out. It wasn’t until I felt like God was saying, “No, you need to say, this is the moment to say something, say it or it’s going to pass you by.”

And that was the moment when I couldn’t fight it anymore. I was like, “OK,” because any other time I’m like, “No, I’m not going to say anything.” I didn’t feel that push from God to say anything. But when I was reading the scripts, costume designing Season a of Sistas, and producing it, I was like, “Oh my gosh, my life is jumping off the pages at me.” Because I was giving Tyler my stories, my friends’ stories, we were all sharing things with him so he would know what it’s like to date in Atlanta as a 30-year-old woman. And at that moment, I was like, “This is it. This is when I need to say something.”

And it was the right moment. And it wasn’t so much out of fear. People always ask me, “Why didn’t you say something?” It was more so because I wanted to earn it. And even through the journey at that moment, I felt like I had earned the right to just let him know. Even if he said no, I felt like it was OK for me to speak in that moment and say, “Hey T, this is what I really want to do.” And from that day he has been, literally after that conversation, he text me and said, “I love this idea.” And he’s been so supportive, so supportive.

Well played. And the thing we know about Tyler Perry is that he takes care of his people. So I’m happy that it panned out for you. Now, you obviously spoke to us about going from working in the costume department of the Tyler Perry Studios to being a star of the show, of two of the shows really. And how did working behind the scenes with such a powerhouse like Tyler Perry, combined with your other work experience working in corporate communications, prepare you for the work that you’re doing in front of the camera?

It prepared me tremendously, honestly, even from my background in communications, knowing how to handle working and talking to people. When I was a costume designer, I had a whole crew – from young to old people that I had to manage and be the boss of. So knowing how to manage a department, knowing how to talk to people, knowing how to be a leader, those are things that I got from my communications degree. But then all the things I learned working behind the scenes, knowing what every department does, knowing the hard work that each crew member does to make every production happen, just made me so much more grateful when I got in the position to be in front of the camera. 

Because a lot of times people don’t know what it takes to make a show happen. As a crew member, they’re up hours before we’re up. They are making sure everything is ready, setting the rooms, making sure the lights are ready, making sure sets are decorated. It’s so many moving parts that happen before an actor even opens their eyes to get ready to come in and everything is just ready for them. So as an actor who has worked on the other side, I have such a tremendous appreciation. And I think I also have a different sense of patience when things aren’t going as smoothly because I understand what’s going on behind the scenes. So I’m super grateful to have that background because I think it also helps me stay grounded as I continue to rise and also have a better understanding of what’s going on.

Now let’s go back to Praise This and you really showing that you have, you’re this vocal force of your own. So now that you’ve been able to expose this passion of yours in such a major way in the film and then you’re obviously performing, can we expect original music moving forward from you?

 I get this question a lot. I’m never going to say never. If I did do it definitely would be an independent project and I would want to work with some amazing people that I’ve met along the way. And I think it would happen at the right time and in the right way. I want to do Disney musicals, maybe do Broadway. I do want to sing, but I’m not sure if I want to be a recording artist.

I’m so happy that you said, that you have a scope outside of the traditional music industry scene because I feel like so many singers miss that and they really miss the possibilities that are out there. Obviously, I think from working in the industry, you see outside of the charts and all that stuff.

Exactly, exactly. It’s so many avenues that you can take to use your gifts and I think that for me, the music industry was such a male-dominated industry, it was really hard as an independent artist, even at that time I was independent trying to get a label backing. It was a really hard road to navigate and I was like, “Ah, I don’t know if this is for me.” But now that I’m in a different position, I feel like I can do it in my own way, on my own terms, and really make some beautiful music for people. If-

 If that’s where your path takes you. Well listen, Disney has a good coin. So yes, we’re never hating and I’m a fan of Disney. I’m all for seeing us in the Disney space. So hopefully that all works out for you now.

You worked alongside a lot of good people in the film, including Chloe Bailey, and how was that working with other artists who are active in the industry as well on this specific project for Praise This?

It was amazing. First of all, shout out Chloe Bailey. She is a complete class act. The girl has acting chops, she’s super sweet, and humble, and you just never know what you’re going to walk into when you meet. Especially, she’s a star and you never know what you’re walking into and you always hope for the best. And she was absolute, she was a delight. She was a delight to work with. Another person I just loved working with was Quavo. We had one scene together where we were… We didn’t interact together, but behind the scenes, we were all sitting and holding and he was just so nice.

Druski is hilarious, on and off the camera, love him. And I run into him, I feel like I run into Druski everywhere. I was in New York at a Mets game and ran into Druski. He’s everywhere. And then I look at my TV, he’s everywhere. So proud of him. But everybody was amazing to work with. Angelica was, first of all, she just stole the show. She is so amazing in the movie. Loved working with her. Tina Gordon, the director, just held her own and it was so amazing to see her just in a director’s position because she’s directed a lot of things, but to actually be able to witness it was really dope.

Now, Season 2 of Zatima just ended on BET+, and we know that the show was a spinoff of Tyler Perry’s Sistas. And the last time I spoke to you, we were going into season one of the show. So what did you learn transitioning from the first season of carrying the show as a co-lead into the second?

Ooh, listen, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Devale [Ellis] and I had our work cut out for us and we were ready for it. We were super excited. We have an amazing work ethic. I can say that about both of us. We both get on each other’s nerves. I definitely get on Devale’s nerves wanting to run lines and study because I take it very seriously and we all have our own different methods of how we learn them. But when it came to season one and season two, we realized this is a lot different than filming Sistas because Sistas is an ensemble cast where we all kind of carry the load together. When it comes to Zatima, Devale and I are pretty much in every scene. One of us is in every scene. So we leave from filming that and we’re like, “Did I just get hit by a bus?”

It’s a lot. It’s a lot of mental retention that we’re having to remember, different emotions our body’s going through and we shoot really fast at Tyler Perry Studios. So it’s not your traditional shooting schedule. And our bodies are like, “What is going on?” One minute we’re crying, one minute we’re laughing. Your body’s like, “Are we going crazy? What’s happening here?” And it’s mentally draining. But even that and then knowing that we’re the leaders of the cast, having to carry that morale and make sure that we keep it at a very high level so that because we know that if we’re not here and happy and keeping the spirits up, it trickles down to everyone else and we take that very seriously. So I think those are the differences. And things I’ve learned is just as far as an actor of what it takes to really carry a show.

And what are you looking forward to doing next? So you’re doing some music here and there, you’re obviously acting. I follow your social media. So from what I saw, it looks like you just purchased a house?

Yeah.

So how are you taking all of these fruits in?

You know what? It’s amazing and it’s a lot. I just found a renter for my other house and I’ve been doing a lot of real estate investment. I bought a house back home just trying to really build my portfolio business-wise, make smart investments because a lot of times you get all this money at one time, and if you don’t know what to do with it can be gone just like that. So trying to be really smart, and strategic about my moves. I did just buy a new house and I walk in every day. I’m like, “Wow, thank you, Jesus.” Because even when I pull up, I’m like, “Wow, this is really mine.” And it’s funny because when I was going to buy… I was looking for… Actually, I wasn’t even looking to buy a house. I had my townhouse and I was fine with that.

It was Tyler Perry. He was like, “It’s time for you to move.” This is the funny thing though. When I bought the townhouse in 2017, Tyler literally said, “I gave you four years, you’ll be in a mansion.” I said this, “I’m a costume designer. A mansion? OK.” And he doesn’t even remember saying this. He was like, “I said that?” It was like, “Yes, we were on set filming The Haves and Have Nots, and this is what you said.” Four years later he calls and he was like, “You’ve outgrown that house.” He’s like, “It’s time to find something bigger.”

And I was like, “Well, I was thinking maybe something in this range.” He goes, “No, you need to go bigger.” And I’m like, “Bigger?” He said, “Crystal, I know you feel like you just got in the door, but honey, you’re in the door.” And he was like, “You’re going to go buy something that you can settle for and be like, oh, this is nice. In a few years, you’re going to be like I should have got what I wanted.” He said, “So go get what you want and God’s going to make room for you.” And I was like, “All right, OK. I receive it, Tyler Perry, if that’s what you say.” So I did it and I was like, “OK.” Because sometimes you feel like, “Am I ready for this?” Or, “Is this really happening?” You’re kind of still living in a-

Yeah, you want to stay safe because like you said-

I ain’t trying to live outside of my means.

And the way this economy is set up, let’s go there and in the industry, jobs come and go. So I understand. But I’m glad Tyler has the motto of my aunt. She’s always like, “Don’t cheat yourself, treat yourself.” And I’m like, “Well, how much?”

Right? I’m like, “Tyler, that’s easy for you to say because you’re a billionaire.” Sir. Listen, if work ain’t coming, you going to cover this mortgage? All right, now

I love that.

It’s always like, “You’re fine.” And he instills in that, even that, just him saying those things helps with my faith and helps me understand that what God has done for you, he will continue to do. You just have to be faithful and understand that you just got to keep working. Faith without works is dead. So I definitely stay on my grind, but I also understand that he’s not going to bring you this far to take you back. And even if he does, you are going to get double for your trouble. So just stay the course. So I was like, “OK, I can do this.” But yeah, super excited about everything and just still taking it all in. Still pinching myself every day.

And how is it having someone like Tyler Perry rooting for you behind the scenes? How valuable is that in such a dog-eat-dog industry?

It’s amazing to have someone of his caliber and Tyler’s very selective about the people that he gets behind. He even just posted me, he didn’t have to do that. He posted me on his Instagram just saying how proud he was of me. He always speaks to the world about how proud he is of me for just singing the national anthem last week. He was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m so proud of her.” And he was like, “She’s almost at a million followers. Let’s get her to a million guys.” That is the friend that he is.

And even behind closed doors, he’s even more of a friend. And at times, sometimes he doesn’t even know. He’ll call me and I’ll need those little gems that he drops. I’m like, “It’s exactly when I needed it.” And I’m like, “Oof.” He just has that intuition, like, “You good?” I’m like, “I’m good.” He’s like, “OK, I’m just calling to check on you, make sure you’re alright.” And that’s just who he is. As busy as he is, he always makes time for his people and that’s what I love about him.