NEW ALBUM ‘WATER MADE US’ – OUT OCT 13 VIA JAGJAGUWAR
Today, Chicago musician and poet Jamila Woods shares ‘Boomerang’, the second single from her forthcoming third album Water Made Us, out October 13 via Jajaguwar. An anthemic dance track, the song’s lively synths underscore Woods’ spirited attempts to win over the object of her affection. Jamila explains, “I co-wrote this song with Nao, GRADES and George Moore on a sweet London day last year,” Woods says. “It was amazing to work with Nao and meet her longtime collaborators and feel the synergy that they have together. It’s a song about that kind of relationship that keeps popping back up throughout your life, that magnetic attachment you have to someone and the excitement and anxiety that comes with wondering ‘will we or won’t we?’
Alongside ‘Boomerang’ comes a spellbinding video that channels the mystique of fleeting romance.
“The video was directed by my friends Vincent Martell and Jordan Phelps of VAM Studio,” says Woods. “We shot it entirely in reverse at the Chicago Magic Lounge, which is known for its portals and hidden rooms. The incredible burlesque artist Po Chop directed the movement and helped me learn all the choreo forwards and backwards, quite literally.”
Video director VAM weighs in: “The concept for Boomerang was one of the most advantageous VAM has ever taken on and the process of recording and performing everything backwards was a technical feat. Watching Jamila rehearse so extensively, memorize her lyrics in gibberish and give us so much personality was such a proud moment for all of us and set the tone for the entire production.”
“Boomerang” is set to appear on Woods’ highly-anticipated upcoming album Water Made Us, co-executive produced by Mcclenney and Jamila Woods, and featuring Saba, duendita and Peter CottonTale. This will be Woods’ first full-length since 2019’s critically acclaimed LEGACY! LEGACY!, a record that showcased their extraordinary introspection that persists on the album soon to come. Water Made Us will also feature previous single ‘Tiny Garden’ featuring duendita, a song that Pitchfork named Best New Track, receiving further coverage from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, FADER and much more.
The album’s title is a subtle reference to a well-known Toni Morrison quote, “All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” It’s this sentiment – of memory, place, and returning – that acts as a pillar for the arc of the album. While 2017’s critically acclaimed HEAVN found Woods celebrating her community within a lineage of Black feminist movement organizing, and 2019’s LEGACY! LEGACY! reframed her life’s experiences through the storied personas of iconic Black and brown artists, Water Made Us is self-revelatory in an entirely new way. Coming out of her Legacy! Legacy! touring schedule and into 2020’s Covid-19 quarantine, Jamila wanted to challenge herself to write as many songs as possible, and spent several months in a state of deep creativity and self-reflection. But despite giving herself this freedom to write without worry, she still yearned for a story to tie her disparate songs together. Early songs revealed a simmering common thread: love, relationships, and the hard lessons learned in their wake. Journaling, therapy, and frequent consultations with a trusted astrologer all began to reflect Jamila’s own patterns in love and intimacy back to her. After being connected with LA-based producer McClenney, the album’s story began to take shape, and the two worked together building each song from scratch. What came is an album that reveals a new side of Woods never fully shared with her previous work, making this her most personal album yet.
Listen to “Boomerang” HERE
Watch the video for “Boomerang” HERE
Listen to “Tiny Garden” ft. duendita HERE
Watch the video for “Tiny Garden” ft. duendita HERE
Pre-save/Pre-order Water Made Us HERE
Water Made Us Tracklist
Bugs
Tiny Garden (ft. duendita)
Practice (ft. Saba)
let the cards fall
Send A Dove
Wreckage Room
Thermostat (ft. Peter CottonTale)
out of the doldrums
Wolfsheep
I Miss All My Exes
Backburner
libra intuition
Boomerang
Still
the best thing
Good News
Headfirst
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