When the pandemic hit, Brittany Howard found herself hunkering down in Nashville with two dogs, two cats and one album on repeat — “Songs in the Key of Life” by Stevie Wonder.
“Every day. Every single day,” she says, laughing.
Making her own music naturally followed, and the result is the Alabama Shakes frontwoman’s second solo album, the 12-track “What Now,” out Friday. Not unlike Wonder’s epic album, it’s also a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles and feelings.
“At the time, I didn’t know I was writing an album. I just needed an outlet and I just needed a way to get all these feelings out,” she says. “So it wasn’t as if I was like chasing one central idea. It was just like journal keeping.”
“What Now” is a thrilling mix of songs that lean into jazz, R&B, soul, house and metal. There’s “Power to Undo” that seems to be a gleeful nod to Prince and “Every Color in Blue” that has a Radiohead vibe. As a whole, it’s more experimental than her 2019 debut, “Jaime.” There’s even an interlude with a poem read by the late Dr. Maya Angelou.
“It was just like what I was going through at the time,” she says. “What’s the best way to get this emotion out? What is the bedrock of how I’m feeling? And then I’ll build it from there.”
Take “Red Flags,” for which Howard mixed the doo-wop styling of groups like The Ink Spots with a metal guitar riff. “Those things shouldn’t go together, right? And maybe it doesn’t. But to me, it makes sense because it’s this feeling of deep sadness, but also that’s just the way it goes. And that’s pretty metal — heartbreak.”
Shawn Everett, a producer, engineer and mixer who has worked with SZA, Hozier and Miley Cyrus, says working on “What Now” was a blast because Howard was so collaborative.
“I genuinely cherish all the time that I’ve been able to spend with her because I think she’s just such an open book as far as her creativity goes,” he…
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