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3. Bilal: “Soul Sista”
When he wowed viewers of this year’s Grammy Awards back in February with a gorgeous performance of “Untitled (How Does It Feel?)” in honor of his late friend and collaborator D’Angelo, the singer-songwriter Bilal made it clear that his voice remains in fine form. You can hear it live when he headlines a free SummerStage show on July 12 in Brooklyn’s Herbert Von King Park, but in the meantime, revisit this single from his 2001 debut album “1st Born Second.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Mavis Staples: “Human Mind”
I was bummed to miss Mavis Staples, 86, when she played the Beacon Theater in February, so I’m glad I’ll get a chance to catch her when she returns to SummerStage on July 16. She brings gravitas and grit to this highlight from her lovely 2025 album “Sad and Beautiful World.”
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5. De La Soul: “Sunny Storms”
Long Island’s own De La Soul will headline a SummerStage show in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens on July 17, though they’ll be without one of their founding members, David Jolicoeur, known as Trugoy the Dove, who died in 2023. His legacy is celebrated throughout De La Soul’s most recent album, last year’s “Cabin in the Sky,” which features this laid-back, wisdom-spouting track.
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6. Susana Baca: “Negra Presuntuosa”
The renowned Peruvian singer-songwriter Susana Baca leads a stacked bill honoring Afro-Latina musicians on July 26; Luedji Luna ft. Liniker, Lady G, Mai-Elka Prado ft. Lush Song Collective and DJ DMZ will also perform. To get in the spirit, here’s Baca’s defiant and sensual 1997 ode to the power of Black women, an Andrés Soto composition that she transformed into one of her signature songs.
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7. Angélique Kidjo: “Mother Nature”
Finally, since releasing her debut album in 1981, the Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo has enjoyed a wonderfully prolific and varied career: In the last decade alone, she’s released a full reworking of Talking Heads’ album “Remain in Light,” a Grammy-winning tribute to Celia Cruz and, just a few months ago, the galvanizing album “Hope,” which finds her collaborating with musicians like Pharrell Williams, Arya Starr and Nile Rodgers. In anticipation of her SummerStage performance on Aug. 23, let’s go out with the soulful title track from her 2022 album of the same name — in hopes that Mother Nature blesses all these SummerStage performances with beautiful weather.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
