MP3: Anita Baker – Lately

As O.G’s go, they don’t get much better than Anita Baker. A celebrated singer/songwriter, Baker has long set the benchmark for aspiring female artists with classics like ‘Sweet Love’ and ‘Angel’. Her distinctive vocal techniques and alto-soprano quickly set her among some of the most revered singers in American R&B whilst herself a Quiet Storm staple in the 80s and early 90s.

Back in the spotlight with new single ‘Lately’ (points if you can guess the relatively obscure late 90s slow jam original before hitting here), she relayed to Boombox her semi-formal time-capsule approach to new album Only Forever: “I just had this concept of walking into a digital universe with an analog heart. So we’re kind of marrying the two. I started cutting analog down in Nashville, and once I knew what we were gonna do, we bounced it over to the digital format so that the 21st century producers like Harvey Mason, Jr., could manipulate it.”

Needless to say, her ‘Lately’ cover captures her own old school, contemporary adult Rhythm & Blues authenticity well in an even classier reverse-retro bel hommage to it’s cover source

Only Forever is out on the (equally) legendary Blue Note Records, October 23rd.