Thundercat Announces New Album Drunk and World Tour, Releases Single
Images via Jerod Harris/Getty, Motor Mouth Media
Once again, 2017 proves to be a dubious start for the country and a fantastic year for music. Grammy-winner and space jazz wizard Thundercat has announced his third full-length studio album Drunk, and it’s going to be incredible. The 23-track album includes a knockout array of features, including Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa and Kamasi Washington. Thundercat released the first single off the album, “Show You The Way,” and it features 1980s musical icons Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald (formerly of The Doobie Brothers). Thundercat described Loggins in an interview with Red Bull Music Academy Daily as one of his “favorite songwriters,” and when Loggins suggested bringing McDonald in on the track, everything just clicked. Thundercat described the meaning and making of “Show You The Way” in a statement:
That song to me is about going down the rabbit hole, taking you to another place … On the edge of dark, there’s the brightest light. It means a lot to me in the sense of … the experience that I’ve had growing up with friends and people that I’ve been around where it’s inviting them into where I come from emotionally. Sometimes it’s a pretty intense thing. The point is how weird things can get. I feel like it’s very funny that, in a way, of course Michael McDonald and Kenny would be there.
The title Drunk reflects the emotional intensity (but also humor) of the single and the rest of the album. The honesty and integrity of the music is important to Thundercat, as well as exploring the dual nature and contradiction of being drunk. “I’ve always tried to hold true to what Erykah Badu and Flying Lotus told me: It has to come from an honest place,” he told Red Bull Music Academy Daily. “I feel like it’s a place that I’ve been in different ways, seen different angles of and it’s been a bit inspirational, the drinking.”
Drunk is set to be released Feb. 24 on Brainfeeder, and is available here for preorder. Listen to the single “Show You The Way,” check out the album cover and see Thundercat’s newly announced world tour dates below. Judging from the amount of venues already sold out, you should probably get your tickets sooner rather than later.