Luke James is in love y’all. Yes, he does have his sultry eyes locked on one woman in particular, but he won’t tell us exactly who she is. However, he did tell us that she’s gifted, talented, loveful, loving, smart, adventurous, cool, unfazed, sensual, sexual, experimental, open, Black and beautiful. All his words. We promise to find out more about this woman, but for now, it’s all about his music.
It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally got a second studio album from Luke James called to feel love/d and he is very much in love with it.
“I didn’t enjoy the first album,” Luke James revealed to ESSENCE during a sit-down interview. “It’s not an album I wanted to put out, so it’s not my album.” James is referring to his first self-titled album, Luke James. Even though many fans adore the album, James made it clear that it wasn’t the type of music he wants to share with the world. And now, as an independent artist, he’s getting a chance to make and share the type of music he’s always wanted to.
To Feel Love/d is all Luke James. “This is all me. This writing it from top to bottom. This is what I wanna do. This is music I actually like, actually love of myself, actually feel. I’m in a place of only doing what I love to do, from here on out,” James said.
To Feel Love/d serves up dual titles: “to feel love” and “to feel loved,” so it embodies two different perspectives all about love. With features from BJ The Chicago Kid, Ro James, and Samoht, Luke is bringing us love from all angles.
‘I asked Kirk Franklin to be on my project. I needed some words of encouragement. He just went in the booth and gave me that,” James told ESSENCE of his album’s A-list features.
So far, we’ve heard James’ singles “all of your love” and “go girl,” featuring both Ro James and BJ the Chicago Kid. “Ro and BJ are my brothers outside and inside this business. It’s a joy and natural coming together for us to be on a record together. Samoht, I enjoy. I am big on celebrating people who are brilliant and gifted. Music, somehow has gotten to a place don’t uphold it like you uphold art. Samoht, Ro, BJ, people like that are one of one. I just needed to have these people on the project.”
Those three crooners aren’t the only talents featured on Luke James’ to be love/d. Make sure you get a copy for yourself. This true-to-who-Luke-James-is project is set to release on January 31, 2020.