Rising singer Sekou gives a wink to R&B icon Barry White on his new single “Never Gunna Give You Up.”
Produced by Jeffy “Gitty” Gitelman and Theron Thomas, “Never Gunna Give You Up” interpolates White’s 1973 classic “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up.” And like the original, Sekou’s version celebrates a love that’s worth holding onto — even when outsiders try to intervene.
“No one wants to respect boundaries / They don’t know that we got loyalty / Found my person, I ain’t letting go / What we have, I think I call this home,” he sings in the first verse.
Speaking on his new single, Sekou explains, “‘Never Gunna Give You Up’ is about freedom, but also that feeling of finding what’s yours and not letting anyone else have it.”
White’s “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up” is the closing track on his second album, Stone Gon’. The self-written and self-produced track peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Circling back to Sekou, “Never Gunna Give You Up” is accompanied by a dance-centric video directed by Relta, which can be watched below.
“Never Gunna Give You Up” follows “Catching Bodies,” released in mid-August. Gitelman and Thomas also produced the brassy soul jam, with contributions from Kevin Theodore.
“I have been waiting so long for this moment and ‘Catching Bodies’ feels like the perfect song to release after a lot of setbacks, but we are here, timings, everything feels like the start of something beautiful,” Sekou shared.
Stream Sekou’s new song “Never Gunna Give You Up” and watch the music video below.
