This March, after months of anticipation, Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez finally released her debut album, Before Love Came to Kill Us. The project was a showcase of Reyez’s dexterity across genres; it featured rich acoustic guitars, sparse hip hop beats and lush R&B. Today, she’s extending her sound with two new Spotify Singles that include a raw version of “Love In The Dark,” off the album, and a piano-driven cover of Drake’s “Headlines.”
Both tracks show off Reyez’s tendency to riff off of different sounds. The original version of “Love In The Dark” is a rich, swelling ballad, punctuated with choral loops and a string section. The new version is scrappy and much bouncier, with Reyez’s voice stretching out over skittish production. It’s much more modern and adds a tense, forceful dimension to the song. Meanwhile, her take on “Headlines” does the opposite: It slows down Drake’s verses over dramatic keys, bringing a much more vulnerable quality to the lyricism. Her cover of “Headlines” was recorded at Spotify Studios in New York, while “Love In The Dark” was recorded at East West Studios in Los Angeles.
The new music is filling in the gap her canceled live shows have left. Reyez would have been on tour promoting Before Love Came to Kill Us, but her plans have shifted because of the coronavirus pandemic. She’s brainstormed ideas, like staging a drive-through concert to bring her live set to audiences again.
“I feel like we’re all in a state of limbo right now and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’m not mad at a drive-in idea, that’s kind of cool. There won’t be much stage diving, which sucks. But maybe I can do car-hopping and we can still stay the six feet distance. I can just hop around from car roof to car roof and that would be dope,” she told Forbes recently.
Listen to the new covers here: