Meshell Ndegeocello is taking one of the Eighties’ frostiest break-up pop anthems somewhere much warmer. The bassist, singer, and producer has shared a new version of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” with Cat Power, reimagining the synth-pop classic as a laid-back reggae song that swaps intense, icy keyboards for horns and an easy, swaying groove. The track is the latest preview of Synonym, Ndegeocello’s upcoming album of collaborative covers due Oct. 2.
On the original 1981 hit, the sharp-edged synthesizers and dramatic lovers’ quarrel are what make the song so captivating. Ndegeocello opts for laid-back reggae accented by warm horns, so the track feels like two people reflecting on the same relationship from opposite sides rather than an argument.
The track is the second glimpse of Synonym, Ndegeocello’s third album for Blue Note Records. The project is built around songs that have maintained relevance in the cultural mainstream for decades, pairing each with a different collaborator. The result stretches comfortably across generations and genres, drawing from Sixties folk, Seventies soul, country, and pop, Eighties R&B and electro-boogie, Nineties alternative rock, and early-2000s hip-hop.
“This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello said in a statement. “But the album is also about joy, selfhood, individual representation, and universal experience.” The title, Synonym, reflects that idea. “We are all different,” she said. “But at the core of the human condition, we are the same.”
The album opens with Cynthia Erivo joining Ndegeocello on a soaring interpretation of George Michael and Aretha Franklin’s “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” the project’s first single. Elsewhere, Chaka Khan steps into “Islands in the Stream,” Brandi Carlile tackles “Golden Ring,” Lianne La Havas appears on “Don’t Look Any Further,” and Moses Sumney and Destin Conrad join forces for “The Closer I Get to You.” Robert Glasper, Nick Hakim, Madison Cunningham, Laura Lee of Khruangbin, Emily King, Lizz Wright, AHONI, WILLOW, Bill Callahan, Chris Thile, Evann McIntosh, and Ink round out the lineup.
Synonym also marks a reunion with producer David Gamson, who helped craft Ndegeocello’s landmark early albums Plantation Lullabies and Peace Beyond Passion in the Nineties. Co-produced with Gamson and longtime collaborator Abe Rounds, the trio anchors a record that bounces from George Michael and Aretha Franklin to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, and Ja Rule and Ashanti, all filtered through Ndegeocello’s musical lens.
Synonym Track List
1. ”I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with Cynthia Erivo
2. “Don’t You Want Me” with Cat Power
3. “Don’t Stop The Music” with Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper
4. “Islands In The Stream” with Chaka Khan
5. “It Ain’t Me Babe” with Madison Cunningham
6. “Always on Time” with Laura Lee
7. “Be Real Black For Me” with Emily King, Lizz Wright
8. “Don’t Look Any Further” with Lianne La Havas
9. “The Closer I Get To You” with Destin Conrad, Moses Sumney
10. “Golden Ring” with Brandi Carlile
11. “I Got You Babe” with ANOHNI
12. “Here We Come (Here He Comes)” with Evann McIntosh
13. “Guilty” with Ink
14. “Hunger Strike” with WILLOW
15. “With God On Our Side” with Bill Callahan, Chris Thile
