Corinne Bailey Rae is ushering in a new era of music. The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has announced her new album, Black Rainbows, out Sept. 15 via Thirty Tigers.
The 10-track album was inspired by artworks collected by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, Illinois.
“I knew when I walked through those doors that my life had changed forever,” shares Bailey Rae. “Engaging with these archives and encountering Theaster Gates and his practice has changed how I think about myself as an artist and what the possibilities of my work can be. This music has come through seeing. Seeing has been like hearing, for me. While I was looking, songs/sounds appeared.”
Black Rainbows will include Bailey Rae’s freshly-released single “New York Transit Queen.” The high-octane tune was inspired by Audrey Smaltz, who won the New Transit Queen competition in 1954.
“I wanted to write an ode to this photograph of Smaltz that I saw at Stony Island Arts Bank and the incredible arc of life she’s lived since then,” Bailey Rae explained in an Instagram caption for a photo of Smaltz.
Music aside, Bailey Rae’s era will also include a book, Refraction/Reflection of the Arts Bank, live shows, visuals, lectures and exhibitions.
Black Rainbows will mark Bailey Rae’s first album since 2016’s The Heart Speaks In Whispers, which included tracks such as “Do You Ever Think of Me” and “Been to the Moon.”
Listen to Corinne Bailey Rae’s new song “New York Transit Queen” below.
