Hometown gal Jennifer Hudson blew into the Windy City to celebrate her cover of Michigan Avenue magazine at their second anniversary celebration at the House of Blues on Tuesday night (Oct. 5). J-Hud showed off her trim post-Weight Watchers body, telling the magazine,

“I feel the same, but then when I look at my picture, I’m like, ‘Oh my god! That’s me?’”

The singer-actress has been filming the Winnie Mandela biopic in South Africa while recording her sophomore album. She revealed one of the deeper songs called “I Remember Me.” “I woke up one morning and I just started writing,” she shares.

“[The song is about how] in my 28 years, I feel like I have led four or five different lives, and the only way I know how to identify me at this point is that I have the same eyes, the same hands and the same feet. So I remember me, if that makes any sense.”

Inside, guests were treated to powerful performances of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Watch the Oscar winner bring down the house below.