Meshell Ndegeocello has shared “Don’t You Want Me” featuring Cat Power, the second single from her forthcoming third Blue Note album, Synonym. The recording recasts The Human League’s 1980s synth-pop hit as a reggae-rooted duet, adding horn accents and pairing Ndegeocello with Cat Power on vocals. Synonym is available to pre-order on color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download.
The album was introduced last month with “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” Ndegeocello’s version of the George Michael and Aretha Franklin duet, recorded with Cynthia Erivo. Across Synonym, Ndegeocello revisits songs spanning 1960s folk, 1970s soul, country and pop, 1980s R&B and electro-boogie, early-1990s alternative rock, and early-2000s hip-hop. Guests include Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, Bill Callahan, and many more. “This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello said. “The songs have diverse tones, representing various genres and intentional grooves.”
Ndegeocello co-produced Synonym with Abe Rounds and David Gamson, reuniting with Gamson after he produced her first two albums, Plantation Lullabies (1993) and Peace Beyond Passion (1996). The players include Rounds and Deantoni Parks on drums, Chris Bruce on guitar, Jake Sherman, Jebin Bruni, and Larry Goldings on keyboards, Josh Johnson and Levon Henry on saxophone, Elena Pinderhughes on flute, and Bela Fleck on banjo. Ndegeocello said the title first appealed because the word “just feels good on the mouth,” then pointed to its definition as a word or phrase that means the same thing as another in the same language. She connected that idea to shared human needs, saying, “We are all different. But at the core of the human condition, we are the same.”
In 2026, Ndegeocello performed No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin at London’s Barbican Hall on June 20 as part of Project A Black Planet. She also appeared at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn on March 29 for Winter Jazzfest. Ndegeocello is scheduled to debut the commissioned work America 250 at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 26, 2026, marking her first appearance at the festival.
