Feeling 'Worthy' again
4/1/2019 12AM
After a period of soul searching, India.Arie is back
By Scott Hall
India Arie Simpson has been writing and singing songs of love, spirituality and empowerment for two decades now, but she hasn’t always felt so positive on the inside.
With her 2001 debut album, Acoustic Soul, the artist known as India.Arie went platinum, drew seven Grammy nominations and kicked off a string of five consecutive Top 10 releases. The pressure grew with each project, however, and the creative and commercial momentum began to stall with 2013’s Songversation. Arie became disillusioned with the music industry and lost touch with the innocent solace she had once found in her guitar and her songwriting.
“I learned a lot about people, a lot about how business is run, how race and gender interplay in corporate America, and I went literally from sitting under a tree to all of that,” she said in a recent phone interview. “At many points I would think, ’If this is how it’s going to be, I’m going to quit doing this.’”
She never quit writing, though, and her thoughts kept coming back to one word: “worthy.”
“My favorite definition of that word is ‘deserving of regard and respect,’” she said. “That became my favorite word, and I wanted to build a body of work around it.”
The concept crystallized during that low point in her life, thanks to a conversation with a woman named Oprah.
During an interview for the Oprah Winfrey Network’s SuperSoul Sunday inspirational talk show, the venerated host posed a question that caught Arie by surprise.
“She said, ‘Let me ask you this question: How long has unworthiness been your calling card?’” Arie recalled. “And (worthy) had been my favorite word for a couple years before she asked the question, so of course it struck me. And it’s Oprah, so of course it really, really struck me.
“I could see what she meant, that people were looking at me like I thought I was a victim and that I wasn’t deserving of success or whatever. It took me further into wanting to develop it as an album and a concept.”
Now, Worthy is a reality, an album released in February and a tour launching with a six-week, 21-city jaunt through the eastern U.S. from April to June (including May 29 at the Palladium). Arie said the album, her first full-length original studio project in five years, reflects the many changes she has been through during that time – health issues, relationship issues, a move from Seattle to New York, the sale of her longtime home in Atlanta. Her musical endeavors in the meantime included accompanying Stevie Wonder on his historic Songs in the Key of Life Tour in 2015.
Perhaps most importantly, Worthy is her first release since ending her longtime association with Motown Records, which means less external support but also less pressure, for example, to sell 100,000 copies in the first week. She feels wiser, more mature and more in control of her destiny.
“It’s a thing to celebrate for me,” she said. “Now I’m in a situation that’s more like what I always wanted, where I have more power and freedom. … I’m just starting to really get a grip on how to do this in a sustainable way.”
Longtime fans will still recognize the trademarks that have long distinguished Arie from other artists lumped into the R&B or neo-soul categories: positive, life-affirming lyrics and arrangements that retain their acoustic-guitar roots amid the electronic beats and danceable grooves.
“I remember when I first came out, I was like, ‘Well, if they want to call it R&B, that’s OK,’ but when you look at my body of work, you hear very much the folk and country influence in my songs,” she said.
The singles so far have included “That Magic,” a love song that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart, and “What If,” a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other champions of social justice. The inspiring title track, with Arie’s vocals accompanied only by fingerstyle guitar, carries the refrain “every one of us is worthy.”
“This is my favorite album,” she said, “because I think I hit my mark in all ways.”
Arie currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she has recorded most of her albums with help from locals like producer/composer Shannon Sanders and respected country-rock session guitarist William “Blue” Miller. Miller, more than 20 years her senior, was her longtime touring guitarist and one of her favorite production and songwriting partners before dying unexpectedly in August from a brain aneurysm.
“I sure miss that guy,” she said.
Speaking on the eve of rehearsals for the current tour, Arie was still pondering the best approach to conveying the new music on stage, perhaps with a novel band lineup or the use of new technology.
“It’s going to be a surprise to me too,” she said with a laugh. “I’m ready to get back on the road, which is rare for me to say. I’m just ready.”
India.Arie: The Worthy Tour
Wednesday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.
The Palladium
Info and tickets: TheCenterPresents.org or (317) 843-3800
