On Meshell Ndegeocello‘s 3rd Blue Note album Synonym, the acclaimed singer-bassist-producer reimagines and reconceptualizes a brilliantly curated collection of classic songs as duets with an astounding rollcall of special guests. Ndegeocello has shared the 2nd single “Don’t You Want Me” featuring Cat Power, an inventive cover of The Human League’s 80s synth-pop hit given a Reggae groove with horn embellishments and performed as a duet by two of the most distinctive song stylists of our time.
Synonym—which is available to pre-order now on color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download—was introduced last month with the lead track “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” an arresting take on the George Michael/Aretha Franklin duet sung by Ndegeocello and Cynthia Erivo. Other featured guests on the album include Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, Bill Callahan, Chris Thile, Madison Cunningham, Laura Lee (of Khruangbin), Lizz Wright, Emily King, Lianne La Havas, Moses Sumney, Destin Conrad, Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper, ANOHNI, WILLOW, Evann McIntosh, and Ink.
Exploring expressions of desire, care, heartbreak, friendship, disappointment, and love in all forms, the songs range from 1960s folk and 70s soul, country, and pop to 80s R&B and electro-boogie, early-90s alternative rock, and early-aughts hip-hop. “This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello says. “The songs have diverse tones, representing various genres and intentional grooves. But the album is also about joy, selfhood, individual representation, and universal experience.”
The album also notably marks a reunion with David Gamson, theproducer of Ndegeocello’s first two classic albums – Plantation Lullabies (1993) and Peace Beyond Passion (1996) – who co-produced Synonym with Ndegeocello and Abe Rounds.A rotating cast of instrumentalists also anchors the music on the album, many of whom are Ndegeocello’s close artistic conspirators, including drummers Rounds and Deantoni Parks; guitarist Chris Bruce; keyboardists Jake Sherman, Jebin Bruni, and Larry Goldings; saxophonists Josh Johnson and Levon Henry; flutist Elena Pinderhughes, banjoist Bela Fleck; and others.
When asked about the album’s intriguing title, Ndegeocello first suggests that the word “just feels good on the mouth,” before expounding upon its true definition: a word or phrase that means the same thing as another word in the same language. “That’s how humans are,” Ndegeocello theorizes, “Regardless of our differences, deep down we essentially want the same things: healthy food and a safe place to live. We are all different. But at the core of the human condition, we are the same.”
