Watch Jorja Smith’s Powerful Video For ‘Rose Rouge’
The BRIT Award-winning artist covered the St. Germain song for the forthcoming ‘Blue Note Re:imagined’ compilation.
Singer-songwriter Jorja Smith just released a powerful video for her cover of St. Germain’s ‘Rose Rouge’ – the lead single off the forthcoming compilation, Blue Note Re:imagined, out September 25.
The London-based singer-songwriter collaborated with British-Nigerian director Samona Olanipekun to compile images of the recent Black Lives Matter protests alongside archival footage from the Civil Rights Movement. Intercut within the footage is a variety of poignant quotes, including one from NAACP co-founder W.E.B. DuBois, which kicks off the visual: “A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect.”
The BRIT Award winner’s soulful vocals are a perfect match for the jazz track, originally off St. Germain’s best-selling 2000 album, Tourist, which fused electronic grooves with live jazz music and a variety of vintage samples. The original recording of ‘Rose Rouge’ sampled Marlena Shaw’s vocals from “Women Of The Ghetto”, off her 1973 LP, Cookin With Blue Note At Montreux.
In a statement earlier this month, Smith – who has collaborated with the likes of Drake, Kali Uchis, and Kendrick Lamar – said that she was “honored to be involved on this Blue Note album to rework St. Germain’s anthem ‘Rose Rouge’. And with such an array of wonderful musicians on the album.”
Blue Note Re:imagined is a brand-new collection of classic Blue Note tracks brought together for the first time, reworked and newly recorded by a selection of the jazz scene’s most exciting young talents.
Representing a bridge between the ground-breaking label’s past and future, the project will feature contributions from a roll-call of internationally acclaimed jazz, soul and R&B acts, including Shabaka Hutchings, Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia, Mr Jukes, Steam Down, Skinny Pelembe, Emma-Jean Thackray, Poppy Ajudha, Jordan Rakei, Fieh, Ishmael Ensemble, Blue Lab Beats, Melt Yourself Down, Yazmin Lacey, and Alfa Mist, in addition to Smith.
This new generation of talent has each interpreted classic tracks by Blue Note’s legends, including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Donald Byrd, Eddie Henderson, McCoy Tyner, and Andrew Hill.
Blue Note Re:imagined is out September 25 and can be preordered here.
