George HaffendenThe genius is back with new music, and a new record label.
This year is so bad that Stevie Wonder has decided to release new music, his first in the last 4 years.
Stevie released two new singles – ‘Where Is Our Love Song’ and ‘Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate’ – on Tuesday this week, hinting at a longer EP release and a potential new album, dubbed ‘Through The Eyes of Wonder’.
The new songs are politically charged, and it’s surely no coincidence they’ve been released just before the US Presidential election next month.
In ‘Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate’, Wonder is joined by rappers Rapsody, Cordae, Chika and Busta Rhymes, as he takes aim at the backlash to the Black Lives Matter protests, singing: “You say you believe that ‘all lives matter’ / I say I don’t believe the fuck you do”.
Meanwhile ‘Where Is Our Love Song’ (featuring Gary Clark Jr on guitar) speaks to hope. Stevie started writing the song when he was 18 years old, and only recently returned to it during the coronavirus pandemic. All proceeds from the song will go to the charity Feeding America, to help feed Americans in need during the pandemic.
The new releases are also notable as they are the first on Stevie’s new label, ‘So What The Fuss Music’, the name taken from his 2005 single with Prince. This is the first time Stevie has had a major release not on Motown Records. The new label raises the prospect of future releases from Stevie, potentially his long-rumoured gospel album in tribute to his late mother.
2020 might be awful, but at least new music from Stevie Wonder makes it that tiny bit better.