By Kerri Mason
NEW YORK (Billboard) -
Seventies flashbacks aside, Donna
Summer is not Rod Stewart.
When executives at her label saw the massive success that
Stewart was having with his oldies albums a few years back,
they suggested that the 70s disco diva do the same thing.
Summer had different ideas, and played them a new song she
co-wrote with Lester Mendez (Shakira, Santana) and Wayne
Hector. The tune, "Be Myself Again," was inspired by James
Blunt's smash ballad "You're Beautiful."
"I was thinking to myself, 'I would love to do a song like
"You're Beautiful," where I don't sing very many lyrics, where
there is just the simplicity of a broken heart, no frills,"'
Summer recalled.
The lyrics sketch a life lived in the public eye, lamenting
the resulting loss of self ("I gave everything to play the
game/My soul fell apart at the seams"). And at the bridge, when
Summer opens up that throaty, yet crystal-clear voice, as
familiar to millions as the sound of running water, it's a
moment.
"They never mentioned that oldies thing again," Summer
said. "Not once."
The track appears on the May 20 release "Crayons
(Burgundy/Sony BMG), her first album since 1991's "Mistaken
Identity." Not that she was taking it easy in that time.
The 59-year-old is mother to three daughters, two of whom
are "in the business"; wife of 27 years to musician Bruce
Sudano; and grandma, not to mention painter, amateur interior
designer and consistent touring artist (she was at home in
Nashville a total of eight short weeks last year).
"I've been extremely blessed, and I am obviously aware of
it. That was one of the reasons I felt that I shouldn't even
bother to be out there again, because there are so many people
who haven't even had a chance yet, and it just clutters up the
market," she said. "But at some point, I just got bored. There
were songs that were in me, and the little head kept popping
up. I felt like, 'You know what, I'm supposed to do this.' "
"Crayons" brings the unmistakable Summer sound into the
2000s, with the help of a slew of of-the-minute writers and
producers, including Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Pink), Danielle
Brisebois (Natasha Bedingfield, New Radicals), JR Rotem (Sean
Kingston, Rihanna) and Evan Bogart, who co-wrote Rihanna's
"SOS." Bogart is the son of Casablanca Records head Neil
Bogart, who discovered and nurtured Summer before succumbing to
cancer in 1982, at the age of 39. Working with the younger
Bogart, who "looks just like his dad," was "interesting and
very joyful," Summer said.
The rest of the material genre-hops without leaving the pop
realm. First single "Stomp Your Feet" rocks a big room like a
hipper Celine Dion anthem; the Latin-flavored "Driving Down
Brazil" has a breezy, windows-down pulse; and "I'm a Fire," the
lone electronic dance entry, has "a mellow softness to it that
makes it sound unlike a thumping typical dance tune," Summer
says. And definitely unlike disco.
"I think her old fans are going to be really excited to
hear ("Crayons"). And I definitely think she'll be pulling in
new people," Bogart said. "This isn't what Donna Summer sounds
like; this sounds like something new."
Summer will hit the road starting in July. She is also
scheduled to perform on NBC's "Today Show" on May 30.
Reuters/Billboard
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