Meiko drops "haunting" (KCRW) acoustic transformation of Rick James' "Super Freak"

Streaming exclusively via KCRW

To perform at Opry City Stage in NYC on May 22

 

(New York, NY): Today, indie singer-songwriter Meiko has released the latest single off her upcoming album, 'Playing Favorites,' (out May 25 via Chesky Records), a stripped-down transformation of Rick James' "Super Freak."

With her gentle finger-plucking and flirtatious, distinctive alto vocals, Meiko turns the rock-funk party anthem into a warm, acoustic coffee-house tune.

She winks through lines like: "she's a very kinky girl / the kind you don't take home to mother," playfully reclaiming the song from a female perspective.

Meiko says of "Super Freak": "The lyrics of this song have always made me giggle. I thought it would be fun to sing it from a girl's perspective, so I started covering it when I was playing shows at Hotel Café in LA. People loved it."

Listen via KCRW.

'Playing Favorites' is Meiko's reimagination of the 90's canon and an homage to the artists who first inspired her to write and create as a teenager. Featuring tracks made immortal by luminaries like The Cranberries, Otis Redding, Erykah Badu, Duran Duran, Portishead, Sade, Mazzy Star, Blind Melon and more, Meiko leaves her own indelible mark on songs that will have you hearing them as if for the first time.

 

Meiko's haunting vocals and bubbling, tender pop sensibility, shines through on the album, which, despite being written by other artists, feels deeply personal. Her sound transforms the tracks, which in their original forms range from alt-rock to funk to R&B to synth-pop to hip-hop, into her signature intimate brand of acoustic indie-folk pop.

Listen to her "soulful" (Billboard) take on Jennifer Paige's "Crush".

In celebration of her upcoming album, Meiko will perform at NYC's Opry City Stage on Tuesday, May 22nd. Tickets are on sale now.

Meiko first got her start playing shows in between waitressing shifts at the notorious Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, where she moved as a teenager from Georgia to pursue her music career. She quickly caught the attention of 'Grey's Anatomy,' who added her song, "Reasons to Love You" in their season 3 premiere, kick-starting her career.

Since then, Meiko has released four critically-acclaimed albums and numerous EPs through MySpace/ DGC, Concord Music Group, Universal Japan and independently; toured with Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, KT Tunstall, Jewel, Brett Dennen, Hanson, Joshua Radin, Mat Kearney and others; and sold a combined 200,000 copies and over 300,000 singles, with over 40 Million streams on Spotify alone.

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