Erykah is back with her 2nd part of album series, Return of The Ankh. In contrast to New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), which was digitally produced and political in tone, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh features lush live instrumentation and taps into Badu’s emotional side by thematically focusing on romance and relationships. “We used a lot of analog instruments…harps, strings, drums, piano, and even a Theremin, to give the album that sonic feel,” says Badu. “There’s a strong undercurrent of bottom, a rumbling to these songs that feels good to me. It feels like a hug.”
The current single, “Window Seat,” has already been heating up airwaves and will be featured as Delta Airlines in-flight boarding music throughout the month of April. It was the No. 1 most-added track at Urban AC Mediabase and Urban AC R&R, and the No. 1 Greatest Gainer on the BDS Urban AC chart. “Window Seat” was co-produced by ERYKAH BADU and James Poyser on keys with Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson from The Roots on drums. With lyrics like, “Can I get a window seat? / Don’t want nobody next to me / I just wanna take it out of town / A look around / And a safe touch down,” Okayplayer.com hails it as a “mellowed out anthem” for frequent flyers, and Rolling Stone magazine says it’s “a smoothly schizophrenic quiet-stormer.”
ERYKAH BADU has been busy promoting the release of NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH with recent television performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (March 3), The Wendy Williams Show (March 25), and Good Day New York (March 26). She is currently visible on newsstands on the April cover of EQ and featured in the April issues of Nylon and Playboy. She is also scheduled to appear in upcoming issues of Rolling Stone, BlackBook, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, Upscale, Spin, Vibe, 944, Paste, and People, among many others.
She grew up listening to ’70s soul and ’80s hip-hop, but Erykah Badu drew more comparisons to Billie Holiday upon her breakout in 1997, after the release of her first album, Baduizm. The grooves and production on the album are bass-heavy R&B, but Badu‘s languorous, occasionally tortured vocals and delicate phrasing immediately removed her from the legion of cookie-cutter female R&B singers. A singer/songwriter responsible for all but one of the songs on Baduizm, she found a number 12 hit with her first single, “On & On,” which pushed the album to number two on the charts.
Born Erica Wright in Dallas in 1971, Badu attended a school of the arts and was working as a teacher and part-time singer in her hometown when she opened for D’Angelo at a 1994 show. D’Angelo’s manager, Kedar Massenburg, was impressed with the performance and hooked her up with the singer to record a cover of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet “Precious Love.” He also signed Badu to his recently formed Kedar Entertainment label, and served as producer for Baduizm, which also starred bassist Ron Carter and members of hip-hop avatars the Roots on several tracks. The first single, “On & On,” became a number one R&B hit in early 1997, and Baduizm followed it to the top of the R&B album charts by March. Opening for R&B acts as well as rap’s Wu-Tang Clan, Erykah Badu stopped just short of number one on the pop album charts in April. Her Live album followed later in the year.
In 2000 she returned with her highly anticipated second studio album, Mama’s Gun, which was co-produced by Badu, James Poyser, Bilal, and Jay Dee and contained the hit single “Bag Lady.” Worldwide Underground, a loose affair billed as an EP despite being longer than many full-lengths, was released in 2003. Her next step, 2008’s New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War, was a heavy and abstract release featuring collaborations with the members of Sa-Ra and Georgia Anne Muldrow; it reached number two on the Billboard 200 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. New Amerykah, Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh, looser and more playful than Pt. 1, followed in 2010. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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