Cat Power, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Callahan and more feature on new Meshell Ndegeocello album, Synonym

Synonym will be Ndegeocello's third release on Blue Note, following 2023's The Omnichord Real Book and 2024's No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin. The album features a collection of covers ranging from 1960s folk and 1970s soul, country, and pop to 1980s R&B and electro-boogie and early-1990s alternative rock, with a stacked cast of collaborators. On "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", Ndegocello recruits actress and singer Cynthia Erivo to reimagine the duet between Aretha Franklin and George Michael, originally released in 1986.

“This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello explains. “The songs have diverse tones, representing various genres and intentional grooves. But the album is also about joy, selfhood, individual representation, and universal experience.”

Synonym sees Ndegeocello reunite with producer David Gamson, who worked on two of her earlier albums, and features a rotating line-up of instrumentalists, including drummers Rounds and Deantoni Parks; guitarist Chris Bruce, keyboardists Jake Sherman, Jebin Bruni, and Larry Goldings, saxophonists Josh Johnson and Levon Henry, flautist Elena Pinderhughes, banjoist Bela Fleck, and more.

In addition to Erivo, Ndegeocello also invited guest artists Cat Power, Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, Bill Callahan, Chris Thile, Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper, Madison Cunningham, Laura Lee (of Khruangbin), Lizz Wright, Emily King, Lianne La Havas, Moses Sumney, Destin Conrad, ANOHNI, WILLOW, Evann McIntosh, and Ink.

Speaking about the album, which Ndegeocello says allowed her to show off her production skills, she adds: “This project is an expression of queer liberation as a synonym for liberation of all kinds,” she continues. “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. Once again, I went back to my elders: Audre Lorde told us that there is no single issue struggle. Similarly, these arrangements are synonyms for their originals – these different sounds still mean the same thing.”

Synonym artwork

Synonym tracklist

"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" with Cynthia Erivo
"Don’t You Want Me" with Cat Power
"Don’t Stop The Music" with Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper
"Islands In The Stream" with Chaka Khan
"It Ain't Me Babe" with Madison Cunningham
"Always on Time" with Laura Lee
"Be Real Black For Me" with Emily King, Lizz Wright
"Don’t Look Any Further" with Lianne La Havas
"The Closer I Get To You" with Destin Conrad, Moses Sumney
"Golden Ring" with Brandi Carlile
"I Got You Babe" with ANOHNI
"Here We Come (Here He Comes)" with Evann McIntosh
"Guilty" with Ink
"Hunger Strike" with WILLOW
"With God On Our Side" with Bill Callahan, Chris Thile