NPR Music is reporting that Stevie Wonder released four songs from the sessions for his 1976 album "Songs in the Key of Life," a rare drop from an artist known for tightly guarding his archives. It said the release, titled "Songs in the Key of Life - The EP," arrived at 4:54 a.m., the hour Wonder often ended studio work while making the album. NPR Music critic Ann Powers said the tracks are not demos or reworkings but fully realized songs that could have appeared on the original double LP.
Powers said the EP stands alongside the legendary album that produced it, and she described imagining where each song might have fit within its 105 minutes of funk, soul and sweetness. She said the release offers a reminder that songs and vibes need not be separated, arguing that Wonder's work bridges hooky melodies and clear narratives with mood and feeling. Powers said the album's hits, including "Sir Duke," "I Wish" and "Isn't She Lovely," remain central texts about Black American life and the 1970s as a transitional decade.
NPR Music said Wonder took two years to record the album and enlisted roughly 130 collaborators, including Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Minnie Riperton and Dorothy Ashby. It said Wonder told the Los Angeles Times his goal was to show how much people have in common and to help break down stereotypes that separate them. Powers said the album makes a case for joy as an energizing, freedom-centered force while also making room for sadness, anger and fear.
Separately, NPR Music is reporting that Jewly Hight published a new profile of Miranda Lambert. It said Lambert, more than 20 years into her career, is still adding to her trophy case with a new album featuring a lush sound and a writing credit on the biggest song of the year in any genre.
NPR Music also said Tom Huizenga reviewed the debut album by Scottish mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, describing her voice as almost shockingly beautiful. It said artist and activist Dali Colorado assembled musicians including Kathleen Hanna, Tom Morello and Adrian Quesada for a protest album titled "Contra-ICE Vol. 1: ICE OUT," inspired by an ice cream truck its owner was forced to abandon after being detained by ICE. NPR Music said saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins won a MacArthur fellowship, and that Atlanta rapper Kenny Mason spoke with Rodney Carmichael about balancing self-expression and mainstream success.