STEVIE WONDER PARTNERS WITH REPUBLIC

Stevie Wonder has created a new label, So What The Fuss Music, with Republic Records and released two songs today.

Wonder, who has spent his entire career with Motown, said he chose to go to Republic after having “a great conversation with Monte Lipman” and a follow-up chat with India.Arie. “Based on where I was, I thought it would be a good fit,” he said, leaving open the possibility of returning to Motown for a project.

Wonder said he intends to put the two songs on an EP in the future that will include other artists. If the EP does not come to. fruition, he intends to put them on his next full-length, which is titled Through the Eyes of Wonder.

Wonder named the label after the song he wrote for his 2005 album A Time to Love. A crew member suggested using the title for his label.

Wonder, who noted he received a new kidney in December, performed a snippet of “Where Is Our Love Song” during a Zoom press conference from a sunny tree-filled yard.

The new songs sprang from older melodies Wonder had in his archives. He started “Where Is Our Love Song” when he was 18; the melody for the second song, “Can’t Put it in the Hands of Fate,” is a few years old.

Wonder will donate 100% of proceeds of “Where Is Our Love Song” to Feeding America. “To feed people,” he said, “it is my joy.” The song features Gary Clark Jr. on guitar and background vocals from five of Wonder's children.

In its initial state, “Can’t Put it in the Hands of Fate” was written about a relationship. He rewrote it a few months ago to address current political and social situations and includes a collection of conscious rappers—Rapsody, Cordae, Chika and Busta Rhymes.

After praising the media, Wonder concluded his opening remarks with a question for everyone listening: “What are you committed to doing? We’re all in this together. Everyone is responsible. We all have to come from a place of truth. I would hope that America, similarly to what Bishop Desmond Tutu said about South Africa, have an atonement for at least three to five years. We cannot ignore the things that have happened in this nation.”