Every February, The Current honors Black History Month. We'll be celebrating by spotlighting black musical artists whose voices and songs changed the world, throughout the decades and across genres. We'll also post four essays delving into a deep, enduring and ever-evolving body of work. This first entry features insightful reflections on identity, creativity, and society from younger artists who were among The Current listeners' favorites on the 2019 lists of the Top 89 Songs and Best New Artists. These diverse musicians are providing a vital soundtrack for these turbulent times.

Brittany Howard

"I think all creative people are sensitive people and it's impossible to not be affected by our society, because we're all human beings going through a lot of the same things at the same time. Somehow, I don't know how that works, but it seems like it. I literally was just doing my story; I was just telling my story, talking about what I knew, because I wasn't really sure what I was going to talk about on [Jaime, her 2019 solo debut, which lodged two tracks, 'Stay High' and 'History Repeats,' on The Current's Top 89 of 2019]. I guess you can't help but be political just by being. I don't know how else to say that. I wasn't trying to make a record that was America today or anything like that; I just happened to be a part of it." [Billboard, 9.26.19]

J.S. Ondara

"I think that the times we are in, definitely, were a big part of my headspace [while making his debut album, Tales of America (The Second Coming)], of just being an immigrant in America, you know, being here and seeing the growing intolerance towards immigration and knowing relatives and family and other people in my circles who perhaps haven't been as fortunate as I have been to have this green card [the Kenyan native acquired it in a US State Department lottery in 2013]...I speak about the American dream in the record [his debut album, Tales of America (The Second Coming)] as something that's a bit elusive, in a tongue-in-cheek way. But also, [I'm] trying to live out my life in a way that perhaps offers some sort of optimism on it...Once I've put these words down and I'm talking about them to people -- revisiting them or singing them over and over again -- their meanings gradually bring themselves to life. That's what happened with songs like 'Saying Goodbye' [which was No. 4 on The Current's Top 89 of 2019]: I wrote that five years ago when I moved to the States, and they were just words in a book...I didn't have much context for it. But I've sung it quite a lot now and talked about it, [and] I feel I know what my subconscious mind is drawing from, where I sort of figure them out over time, or people figure them out for me." [npr.org, 2.18.19]

Lizzo

"[In 2017] I just felt like I was throwing music into the world and not even making a splash. A tree was falling in the forest and not making a sound, you know? I was crying in my room all day. I said, 'If I stop making music now, nobody would f**king care.' [After a pep talk from her producer] I just made the decision to keep going as an artist. And I'm so grateful I did, but it was by the skin of my teeth...If my next album doesn't do anything like [Cuz I Love You ], and this was just a one-time thing, I'm going to be grateful. [Cuz I Love You dominated The Current's Top 89 of 2019 - including No. 1, 'Juice'; No. 3, 'Truth Hurts'; No. 8, the title cut; No. 10, 'Like a Girl'; and No. 20, 'Tempo.'] And I'm also gonna have a fan base that I can tour on. I've been touring for a long time -- why would that stop? I'm gonna continue to do that forever...I don't need an encore chant after every song, even though they do that sometimes. But when it does happen, I open my arms to receive it, because it's happening for a reason, and I'm so grateful for it." [Elle, 9.5.19]

Gary Clark Jr.

On writing the title cut of his 2019 album, This Land, which was No. 11 on The Current's Top 89 of 2019: "The process was, one, being black in the south, and two, it was right around 2016 and it reflected what the climate was, what the culture was, what was in the news, both for black people and anybody else who feels discriminated against. There was a situation that I had, which wasn't a big deal but it was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. I found it frustrating and sad and I just decided to go write a song about it. I had the music to it already. It's an adaptation of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land.' 'This land is mine' was the only lyric I had over it and we just kind of played...I remember singing ['This Land Is Your Land'] as a kid. I love the song and I love what it stands for, but I unfortunately don't think we can all sing that song as a nation unified. I just wanted to let it be known: this land is your land, but it's mine too, and we all, as Americans, as citizens of this country, should all have an equal shot. [After writing the song] I felt unburdened by my anger kind of immediately, after I got into the booth. Playing the record for people at the label, getting their immediate support, I thought, 'Alright, people are really willing to hear this and it's beautiful.' It's about time." [The Guardian, 2.21.19]

Michael Kiwanuka

"Longevity and being a true artist is everything I dream of. It's about realness for me. My music doesn't need to be part of a trend. It's just in its own lane. As a teenager, I'd read about bands' and artists' long careers and it became the dream, to strive for it. That's why [the positive reaction to Kiwanuka, his third album; the track 'Hero' was No. 49 on The Current's Top 89 of 2019] has been a bit overwhelming. It feels like it's the first steps of that...It's been a therapeutic album for sure. I've had anxiety before but this time I had anxieties of a different kind. I'm 32 and I knew I had to tackle my worries properly or they were going to remain. I guess it's about identity, fitting in and finding the confidence to enjoy it...I've just had to get used to feeling right about my part in music, as there are high standards wherever I go. Sometimes I find it suffocating and I find everything nerve-wracking and wonder if I am good enough or if I can keep up. It's like impostor syndrome. It's the same self-doubt or not fitting in that I've had all my life." [The Sun, 11.7.19]

Tune Saturday, February 8 at noon Central to hear Kiwanuka's Theft of the Dial.

Vagabon

[The Cameroon-born artist, whose real name is Laetitia Tamko, released her second album, Vagabon, in October.] "No one's exclusively listening to one thing, so I want an album to be kind of like a mixtape. Maybe it's to my detriment, but I haven't yet looked at albums as [making] super-cohesive things that don't jump around...I want to carve out my own lane. I want others to see that I'm growing. I want to produce other [musicians]. I want to do big sh*t. I want to play late night, I want to do it all. That's my most honest thing. I just want to be me, the biggest thing ever to come out of Cameroon...The reason I signed with Nonesuch is because it's a classical music and art label. They have long-term career artists and that's what I see myself becoming. I'm excited to be in the company of Bjork and Laurie Anderson...I wanted to be in a space where the label does things I don't know anything about that I can learn from and I'm doing things the label doesn't know about. That makes everyone do their best work." [Billboard, 10.23.19]

Yola

[The British singer, whose full name is Yolanda Quartey, released her Dan Auerbach-produced debut album, Walk Through Fire, in February 2019.] "I tried to not have a preconception of what [Dan and I] were going to do [on Walk Through Fire], and react to our inspirations instead of having a really controlled brief. One of the things that guided us was where our musical tastes crossed over. That gave us a ballpark...I think we got a great balance of autobiographical and storytelling on this record. I came to the studio with a song I wrote on my own, just on guitar, just to get the ball rolling. I found that talking about my life experience is more important than anything else when I'm getting to know someone, especially if I'm writing with them...I remember hearing Beyonce say, 'If you tell me your problems, prepare for them to be in a song'. I'm that person for sure!" [Stereogum, 5.2.19 + PopMatters, 2.22.19]

Black Pumas

"Soul music is very central," says frontman Eric Burton, who co-founded the retro-soul group with producer/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada. "It's by people who feel a certain way about their existence - they might not feel as accepted... it's that reflection of old gospel and blues music. Adrian and I consider ourselves as sincere as possible when it comes to experiencing life today, as Americans, with the backgrounds that we come from...Whatever's going on politically doesn't decide who we are. Our biggest challenge is to be honest in the sharing of our experience. We don't worry about trying to make explicit political statements...life is more precious than that." [The Independent, 1.23.20]

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