With the release of her latest single, the soulful and sensualromance “You Know What It’s Like,” Brenda Russell not only continues to pave the way for her highly anticipated upcoming album Songpainter – her first collection in 20 years – but also makes a triumphant return to the refined classic blend of adult contemporary R&B and urban jazz that launched and defined the trailblazing four and a half decade career of the multi-Grammy nominated singer/songwriter, Tony nominated and Grammy winning Broadway composer for The Color Purple.
Produced by Brenda with her longtime collaborator Stephan Oberhoff (Burt Bacharach, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau), “You Know What It’s Like” is a co-write by the singer and the legendary Roberta Flack, who originally recorded the song on her Oasis album. When Brenda and Oberhoff were going through songs she had written but never recorded herself as potential singles and tracks for Songpainter, she immediately gravitated to this supremely sultry tune to both honor her longtime friend and give her some love.
Featuring a dreamy Brazilian-flavored vibe, “You Know What It’s Like” is the follow-up single to Brenda’s R&B/gospel flavored “What Will It Take,” an uplifting and unifying globally conscious anthem for our time. Its 2023 release was one of those serendipitous cases of a song truly meeting the perfect moment at a time when there is a collective anxiety about America’s future as a democracy and our news feeds are dominated by the details of two horrifying wars.
Brenda’s passionate, intimate lyrics find her expressing love and affection for a lover on the same wavelength: “Your smile is amazing/I miss you the moment that you’re gone from my arms. . .a fire I’ve waited for so long. . .But you know, you know what it’s like/When love feels, everything feels right, so right.” Fans who have been with Brenda from the beginning will appreciate the sly insertion of the phrase “So Good (So Right)” in the second verse. They reference the title of her 1979 debut single (and first Billboard Top 40 hit) that reached the Top 10 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
“The song is a reflection of my musicality meeting the incredible musicality of Roberta, who is one of the all-time queens of popular music,” says Brenda. “We met during the course of our respective careers and she once dated a good friend of mine, which allowed me to get to know her better. We later performed in Japan at the Earth Voice Concert with Michael McDonald and James Ingram. I’ve always considered her a magical artist because when she made her classic records like ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’ people melted at the sound and sweetness of her voice. We respected one another’s music so much, and Roberta simply reached out one day, asking me to write a song with her. She sent me a track of her musicians playing the music and chords, and I wrote the lyrics and melody.
“Though our production is very contemporary, ‘You Know What It’s Like’ has a cool back in the day feel about it, that unmistakable 80’s R&B vibe,” she adds. “A music publisher I shared it with gave me the best compliment Roberta and I could have ever received. He said, ‘It sounds like you wrote it with Donald Fagen.’ Amazing. Nobody ever made that kind of comparison with me. But I get it. I’ve seriously been in love with the song for a long time.”
To Brenda’s ears, the element of the track that takes it over the top is the backing vocal textures created by songwriter/producer Brian Alexander Morgan, known for his work with SWV, Usher, Lalah Hathaway, Missy Elliott and Eric Benet. Their collaboration grew out of a chance meeting while both were picking up food at a local Thai restaurant. Brenda noticed Morgan’s Pink Floyd shirt and said he must be a musician. When the singer introduced herself, Morgan went crazy and told her he was a big fan. She gave him the demo of “You Know What It’s Like” and he offered to create a dynamic five-part harmony style vocal arrangement (reminiscent of Take 6) around her lead vocals. “Brian created a whole new piece of artistry with those vocal harmonies,” Brenda says. “I always liked the song, but when you combine what Brian did vocally with what we created in the production, it gave me exactly what I was looking for in my next single.”
Though “You Know What It’s Like” may mark the first time Brenda has revisited one of her songs after another artist recorded it, the singer has experienced the opposite as well – and dramatically so, when Oleta Adams 1991 version of “Get Here” became a massive global hit, reaching #5 in the U.S. and #4 in the UK. Brenda recorded the song as the title track to her 1988 Top Ten breakthrough album, which included “Piano in the Dark” – a tune that earned Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by A Duo or Group with Vocals. Get Here the album earned a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
Another enduring blessing of Brenda’s professional life has been her Tony and Grammy Award winning collaboration (with fellow hit songwriters Stephen Bray and the late Allee Willis) on the musical The Color Purple. The musical, whose original Broadway production ran from 2005 to 2008 and earned eleven Tony nominations and a Best Actress win for LaChanze in 2006, is based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning 1982 novel and its Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 film adaptation. Brenda earned a Tony nomination for Best Original Score.
A critically acclaimed Broadway revival in 2015 earned two Tony Awards – including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical (Cynthia Erivo). Brenda won her first Grammy for Best Musical Theatre album in 2016. The critically acclaimed, Blitz Bazawule-directed 2023 musical film The Color Purple – whose producers included Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey – include updated versions of several of Brenda’s co-writes, including “Shug Avery Coming To Down.” She collaborated on these with Bray and two time Oscar nominated songwriter Siedah Garrett, taking over for Willis..
When people assess Brenda’s overall career, her success as an artist and with The Color Purple often overshadows the gemsshe wrote that were hits for other artists. Beyond Oleta Adams’ “Get Here,” Brenda’s gems have been recorded by Luther Vandross (“If Only for One Night”), Donna Summer (“Dinner with Gershwin”), Babyface, The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Austin, Dionne Warwick, Mary J. Blige, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and Ramsey Lewis. Her tunes have also been sampled by everyone from Janet Jackson and 2Pace to Chance the Rapper and Ariana Grande. In addition, Brenda’s co-composition with Brazilian artist Ivan Lins “She Walks This Earth” was recorded by international superstar Sting for the all-star tribute album Love Affair: The Music Of Ivan Lins. Sting's inspired performance of the uniquely beautiful song earned him a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance.
“I’m so excited and grateful to pay homage to my dear friend and co-writer Roberta with ‘You Know What It’s Like’, and so grateful for the all the fantastic and creative people who helped me make this record,” says Brenda. “At this time in history, music’s most important job is to inspire us to be better people. I put a lot of love into my music and appreciate the opportunity to lift their spirits through the power of song.”
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