Multi-genre musician Meshell Ndegeocello is back with a new covers collection. Synonym will feature duets with artists including soul legend Chaka Khan and avant-garde visionary Anohni, and it arrives on Oct. 2 via Blue Note. The lead single, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” featuring Cynthia Erivo, is out now.
Synonym is bolstered by duets with artists across several genres. The record features collaborations with Cat Power, Brandi Carlile, Bill Callahan, Lianne La Havas, Moses Sumney, Destin Conrad, Willow, Robert Glasper, Nick Hakim, Madison Cunningham, Laura Lee (of Khruangbin), Chris Thile, Lizz Wright, Emily King, Evann Mcintosh, and Ink.
“This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello said in a statement. “The songs have diverse tones, representing various genres and intentional grooves. But the album is also about joy, selfhood, individual representation, and universal experience.” Indeed, the track list features covers by Sonny and Cher, the Human League, Roberta Flack, Bob Dylan, and more.
“This project is an expression of queer liberation as a synonym for liberation of all kinds. The queer community claimed me when others didn’t and for a long time that felt too far away from other communities to which I belong but now I recognize the ways in which it all overlaps,” the multi-instrumentalist continued. “I want to do more collective music. On this album, I wanted to show off as a producer. I love being on Blue Note Records, because with that, I still get to be a musician.”
“I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” is a cover of the Grammy Award-winning song by George Michael and Aretha Franklin. Ndegeocello’s rendition, featuring Tony Award winning singer/actress Cynthia Erivo, slows things down from the glitzy dance-oriented original. Erivo and Ndegeocello’s spellbinding vocalizations meld together with stunning quality as the track emulates the feeling of wrapping yourself in a fuzzy quilt on a winter night.
Synonym isn’t Ndegeocello’s first stab at a covers album, nor at penning a tribute to the artists she holds dear; 2018’s Ventriloquism featured covers of Eighties and Nineties R&B tracks, while 2024’s Red Hot & Ra: The Magic City saw her curating an ode to jazz legend Sun Ra alongside saxophonist Marshall Allen, Pink Siifu, and more.
Ndegeocello released The Omnichord Real Book in 2023, and later waxed poetic on luminary Black writers on No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin the following year. Both albums received the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz Album.
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