New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Universal Motown Records) - Multiple Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, director, and actor ERYKAH BADU's fifth studio album, NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH, will be released by Universal Motown Records on 3.30 2010 AD (((333))). The new album is the singer's hotly anticipated follow-up to her superb 2008 disc, New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War.
'Badu's splendid Return of the Ankh is her warmest album in years.'
ERYKAH BADU will celebrate the release of NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH by performing the disc's first single, 'Window Seat,' on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday, March 30, followed by an appearance on E!'s Chelsea Lately on Wednesday, March 31.
Named one of the most anticipated albums of 2010 by Entertainment Weekly and Essence.com, NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH features contributions from some of the most talented, groundbreaking, underground producers and engineers in the hip-hop game, including 9th Wonder, Madlib, James Poyser, Sa-Ra's Shafiq Husayn, Ahmir '?uestlove' Thompson, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Jah Born, R.C. Williams, Ta'Raach, Karriem Riggins, and the late J Dilla. 'We used a lot of analog instruments-harps, strings, drums, piano, and even a Theremin-to give the album that sonic feel,' says BADU. 'There's a strong undercurrent of bottom, a rumbling to these songs that feels good to me. It feels like a hug.'
The current single, 'Window Seat,' has already been heating up airwaves and will be featured as Delta Airlines in-flight boarding music throughout the month of April. It was the No. 1 most-added track at Urban AC Mediabase and Urban AC R&R, and the No. 1 Greatest Gainer on the BDS Urban AC chart. 'Window Seat' was co-produced by ERYKAH BADU and James Poyser on keys with Ahmir '?uestlove' Thompson from The Roots on drums. With lyrics like, 'Can I get a window seat? / Don't want nobody next to me / I just wanna take it out of town / A look around / And a safe touch down,' Okayplayer.com hails it as a 'mellowed out anthem' for frequent flyers, and Rolling Stone magazine says it's 'a smoothly schizophrenic quiet-stormer.'
ERYKAH BADU has been busy promoting the release of NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH with recent television performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (March 3), The Wendy Williams Show (March 25), and Good Day New York (March 26). She is currently visible on newsstands on the April cover of EQ and featured in the April issues of Nylon and Playboy. She is also scheduled to appear in upcoming issues of Rolling Stone, BlackBook, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, Upscale, Spin, Vibe, 944, Paste, and People, among many other publications.
Check out what the critics are saying about
NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH
'A-'
-Entertainment Weekly
'New Amerykah Part Two revives Badu's romantic side, and at its best it places her on a sun-splashed day in 1972...'
-Rolling Stone
'On her CD New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, Erykah Badu explores 'the mind of a woman learning love.''
-Playboy
'...New Amerykah Part Two is vintage, heartfelt Badu. It's soulful, organic music which fills the room with barely contained emotion.'
-Nylon
'The high priestess of distinguished bad-assism, inadvertent-yet-fierce feminism and mysterious witchy-womanism hits the ball out of the park on her fifth studio release.'
-CMJ
'Badu's splendid Return of the Ankh is her warmest album in years.'
-SoulSummer.com
'On New Amerykah Part Two, Badu takes it back to '97, expect hit after hit; no skips.'
-Essence.com
'Part Two is a meticulously crafted concept album, both in the vintage sense of Music of My Mind-era Stevie Wonder and in the alt-underground hip-hop vein...'
-EQ
NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH
IN STORES 3.30 2010 AD
(((333)))
www.erykahbadu.com
