Lady Blackbird

In every Lady Blackbird song is the unmistakable sound of freedom. Harnessing a mighty voice that effortlessly embodies buffeting power, heart-rending yearning and soft, whispered balladry, Lady Blackbird has imbued her compositions since 2021's critically acclaimed debut Black Acid Soul with a journeying independence. Hers is an instantly-recognisable sound capable of evoking joy one moment and heartache the next, a musical embrace of genres as varied as jazz, classic soul, gospel, psychedelic rock and pop. It is the hallmark of a visionary voice.

Yet, it is only now that she is embracing the full breadth of that musical freedom in her most personal and ambitious work to date: Slang Spirituals. "This is my journey of becoming," she explains. "It's me rewriting the book to show the world who I truly am. From being labelled a sinner to finding my acceptance."

Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)" to the finger-picking folk storytelling of "Man On A Boat," euphoric gospel empowerment of "Like A Woman" and the seven-minute psychedelic soul instrumental of "When The Game Is Played On You." Collaborating once again with Black Acid Soul producer Chris Seefried, the pair produce a second album Slang Spirituals that not only embodies the freewheeling, emotive Lady Blackbird sound but that also taps into deeply vulnerable lyrics that recount the singer's challenging ascent to musical stardom.

Growing up in the small town of Farmington, New Mexico, Lady Blackbird was raised in a religious Christian household and began singing as soon as she could walk. By 12, she was signed to a Christian record label based in Nashville and began working with rap-rock crossover group DC Talk. While she featured on several solo records from DC Talk co-founder TobyMac, Lady Blackbird's time at the Christian record label was short-lived. "Once I entered my teenage years, I started to realise that religion was something that was put on me and it never felt right," she says. "As I also began to develop my own identity as a queer woman, I felt judged as an outcast and labelled as a sinner. It was burying who I really was and I needed to find a way out."

There followed journeying years as a session vocalist for other artists, including "I'm Outta Love" singer Anastacia, and a deal with Epic Records that was pushed aside owing to an A&R focus on R&B that failed to take in the massive scope of Lady Blackbird's voice. It ultimately wasn't until Lady Blackbird began working with Seefried that they landed on a sound that does justice to her timeless sound, producing the atmospheric, stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of Black Acid Soul. Comprising haunting versions of jazz standards like "Blackbird," which became a civil rights rallying cry in the aftermath of George Floyd's 2020 murder, as well as folk songs and soul-tinged originals, the album was a runaway success. Soon, Lady Blackbird's husky timbre and strikingly dramatic stage presence could be found on sold out tours across Europe, both as a headliner and with jazz stalwart Gregory Porter. She also became a sought-out collaborator, performing features with Moby, Trevor Horn, Nitin Sawhney and Billy Porter.

It was during this period of intense touring that Seefried and Lady Blackbird began writing tracks that would comprise Slang Spirituals. "It was this instinctual thing that came pouring out of me," Lady Blackbird says. "While Black Acid Soul was personal, I soon realised this new music was raw and vulnerable like I've never been before. I would be crying while singing some of the songs and it became like therapy, except I wasn't lying on a couch, I was in the studio recording!"

The result, penned in hotel bars after exhilarating shows or in impromptu studio sessions, is a remarkable work of soul-searching and self-acceptance. Tracks like "Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)" see Lady Blackbird repeating the freeing line, "Heaven is just a game not meant to last," playfully casting off her previous religious shackles over ornate swells of choral harmony. "Reborn," meanwhile, finds her exclaiming, "We die a little to be born again, so I drowned her in flames/ And now she's been reborn," against a thundering backbeat and earworming harmonies.

"I had to dig my way out of a grave to be able to finally breathe and sing about who I really am," she says. "This is me, full of freedom, acceptance and without hypocrisy. It's also something I think a lot of people can relate to — that human quest to find yourself and take back your power, to get to the place of radiating who you are without apology." Hence the record's apt title, evoking the power of the human spirit to define and fight for itself rather than relying on belief in another. In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction.

"It might sound like a heavy record but it's one full of musical joy," she adds. "We're putting this journey of becoming to a soundtrack that is louder, fuller and more expressive than what I've done before. It's neo-gospel, avant soul, acid rock and everything in between."

Lady Blackbird will be taking her infectiously uninhibited sound on tour throughout the next year, kicking off in May (to coincide with the release of the first single "Reborn") with an upcoming performance as part of Chaka Khan's Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank Centre. Lady Blackbird is sure to have her revellers enraptured and empowered in equal parts. "The stage is like home and every time I step out there, I see my whole life flash by," she says. "I see my dream come true from my bedroom to County Fair stages and now to these beautiful rooms — I can't wait to take audiences on the journey with me and make them feel liberated too."