SEATED on a couch in downtown West Hollywood, her elderly white terrier sprawled across her lap, the singer w known as Lady Blackbird is seething. Moments before we had been chatting amiably about her acclaimed 2021 debut Black Acid Soul, a work whose raw power and stripped down beauty have seen her hailed as the Grace Jones of jazz, and a soul sister to the iconic Nina Simone.
But I have just asked Lady Blackbird how she feels as a woman (as it happens, a queer black woman) living in the US right now, what with the overturning of Roe v Wade and the rolling back of women's rights. "I feel as angry as every other woman at having so much taken away. At being told what to do with your body." Her eyes flash. "It's appalling.
Disgusting." Lady Blackbird didn't set out to be any kind of activist. She had recorded her cover of Simone's 1966 civil rights anthem, Blackbird, a year before the eruption of the Black Lives Matter movement, channelling the song's grace and despair with a voice all the more forceful for its sense of holding back. But delays around the release of Black Acid Soul - its 11 tracks mostly comprising leftfield Sixties tunes once performed by the likes of Sam Cooke, Tim Hardin and The James Gang - meant that it dropped deep into the zeitgeist.
When the song Blackbird was released as a single at the end of May 2020, two days after the murder of George Floyd, it hit a cultural nerve.
"That song definitely needed a moment," she says. "I used to listen to it on repeat for hours, getting into its bones, imagining myself singing it on stage. It still rings so disgustingly true. I thought, "This has to be done"" So began the transformation of Marley Munroe, the daughter of evangelical Christians from the small town of Farmington, New Mexico, and a long-time professional session singer-songwriter (she wrote and sang backing vocals for Anastacia's 2014 hit Staring at the Sun).
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 19, 2022 من Evening Standard.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 19, 2022 من Evening Standard.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Why are England wasting time waiting for Tuchel?
Winning the World Cup is the aim, so the new boss should start now
He's been shot, and punched by Mike Tyson, but British boxing's great survivor is back on top and aiming to rule the world
This is where the magic happens,\" reads a big neon sign scrawled across the entrance to the offices of arguably the most powerful man in British boxing today.
How Sketch went from 'obscene' to era-defining
After arocky start, the glamorous and infamous restaurant is now an institution
Money is worth less than time'
He's quit Fendi, but what will Kim Jones do next?
London's Roman Amphitheatre
Guildhall Yard, EC2V
Liberals didn't notice they'd lost relevance in the all-consuming digital sphere
There are many reasons why Donald Trump might have won the election last week.
Do we have to die?
One neuroscientist thinks the answer is no
How to have a magical Christmas in Edinburgh
From cosy cobblestone streets to abundant Yuletide goings-on, few cities rival the Scottish capital in creating Christmas whimsy.
London's best festive restaurants
The social season is upon us once more. These are the city’s most coveted Christmas venues, which need to be booked soon so as to not miss out on the tinsel and tipples.
Rag'n'Bone Man
I struggle with being recognised... I'll never really feel comfortable with it'
