''The Wild Card'' is the ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer and songwriter

Ledisi Ledisi Anibade Young (; born March 28, 1972), better known simply as Ledisi, is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, author, and actress. Her name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. In 1995, Ledisi formed a band afte ...

. It was released on August 28, 2020, by Listen Back Entertainment, and distributed by

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

. Her first independent album since ''

Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue ''Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Ledisi. The album was released in 2002 on Ledisi's record label LeSun Music. The album's musical style ranges from 1930s–1940s blues influences to co ...

'' (2002) and the first project release on Listen Back Entertainment, Ledisi wrote and produced the album with Kal Banx,

Ivan Barias Ivan Barias is part of the Philadelphia production duo Carvin & Ivan. Initially starting out as a solo hip hop artist, he moved into production and songwriting. He has written and produced songs for artists including Jazmine Sullivan, Jill Scott ( ...

, Phil Beaudreau, Jeff Gitelman,

Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 5, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and Arrangement, musical arranger. His music embodies numerous musical genres, primarily centered around jazz. Glasper has won five Grammy Awards from ...

Cory Henry Cory Alexander Henry (born February 27, 1987) is an American jazz organist, pianist, gospel musician, and producer. A former member of Snarky Puppy, Henry launched his solo artist career in 2018 with ''Art of Love'', his first independent re ...

, Rex Rideout,

SiR ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

and various other collaborators. Sa-Roc and Cory Henry also appear as featured musicians. The album debuted at number 79 on the US

Top Album Sales The Top Album Sales is a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's top-selling albums in the United States. The chart has been published since December 13, 2014, although the magazine also retrospectively recognize ...

chart. The lead single "Anything for You" was released on April 3, 2020, and reached number one on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Adult R&B Songs The Adult R&B Songs chart (formerly called Adult R&B Airplay) is an airplay chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on urban adult contemporary radio stations, whose playl ...

chart for two weeks, making it Ledisi's first song to top that chart. " Anything for You" won a

Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance The Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers of quality traditional R&B vocal performances. ...

at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

in 2021, marking her first Grammy Award win. In promotion of the album, Ledisi embarked on The Wild Card Tour, and released an accompanying live album.

Background and conception

In January 2019, Ledisi departed from

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

and founded her own label Listen Back Entertainment. She began recording the album in 2019. When the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

struck in March 2020, Ledisi had recorded most of the album except two songs; one of them being a cover version of " Without You" by

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock music, rock band formed in Swansea in 1961. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (musician), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recognised for th ...

. Due to

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

, Ledisi created her own home studio where she recorded and engineered the remaining songs.

Release and promotion

In early 2020, Ledisi announced the new album through entertainment magazines ''

'' and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. She also posted a picture imitating the

mugshot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a Portrait photography, photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is placed under arrest. The primary purpose ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

figures

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

and

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

, where she replaced her mugshot number with the album's release date "0828". The album was released on August 28, 2020, which coincided with the date of King's "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...

" speech in 1963 as well as the

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...

receiving

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. On the day of the album's release, Ledisi held a

livestream Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...

listening party via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, hosted by American radio personality Cayman Kelly. On September 2, 2020, she appeared on

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

and performed "Stone". In November 2020, Ledisi appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show to promote her album and also performed "Anything for You".

Singles

" Anything for You" was released as the lead single on April 3, 2020. The song was inspired by the death of her long-time music producer Rex Rideout's father. The song peaked atop the US ''

chart for two weeks, making it her first number-one song on the chart.Ledisi Billboard Chart History
Billboard. Retrieved on June 13, 2024 On July 31, 2020, a duet version with

PJ Morton P.J. Morton (born Paul Sylvester Morton Jr.; March 29, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2012, he has been the keyboardist for the pop band Maroon 5. Morton originally joined the band as a touring mem ...

was released. "Wake Up", which features American rapper Sa-Roc, was released as the second single on August 24, 2020. In February 2021, "Same Love" was released as the third single. The song peaked at number twenty-two on the

chart.

Tour

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ledisi was unable to tour in the latter part of 2020. On September 12, 2020, she gave on a free

virtual concert A virtual concert, also called V-concert or virtual live, refers to a performance in which the performers are represented by virtual avatars. Virtual concerts can take place in real life, where digital representations of the performers are projec ...

titled ''This One's for You: A Night of Ledisi Live''. The concert was recorded at the

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writing ...

and released as a live album titled ''Ledisi Live at The Troubadour'' on April 30, 2021.Ledisi Live at the Troubadour
AllMusic. Retrieved on June 13, 2024 On June 18, 2021, Ledisi announced the Wild Card Tour via her

account. The concert run began on October 13, 2021, at Paramount Theatre in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. The tour concluded on November 18, 2021, at Carolina Theatre in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

Critical reception

Andy Kellman, writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, wrote that Ledisi "and her supporting musicians still incorporate shades of bygone eras with natural grace. Even the overtly retro moments retain a freshness, and whenever a song bears some obvious likeness, Ledisi's entrancing and singular voice – bolstered by some subtly dazzling harmonies and arrangements – is at the fore to distinguish it. A spirit of unrestrained individualism powers some of the best material."

Background and conception

Release and promotion

Singles

Tour

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References