Grammy-award-winning artist Bilal has teamed up with Glasshouse Presents to release “Live at Glasshaus,” on June 14, a live performance that also doubles as an album, and releases the first single, “Something To Hold.”
The release is just in time for Black Music Month. Each June, Black Music Month appreciates and highlights the contributions of African-American musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters in American culture, according to National Today.
Other powerhouse artists included in the recording are Questlove, Common, Robert Glasper, and Burniss Travis.
Bilal performs classic hits from his career, spanning over 20 years, including “1st Born Second”, his famously unreleased sophomore album, “Love For Sale,” “Airtight’s Revenge,” Common’s seminal “Like Water for Chocolate,” as well as the premiere of “Humility.”
The project was recorded, filmed, and live-streamed from Glasshaus in Brooklyn, NY, with an intimate setting of 100 fans. The album’s first single and video is “Something To Hold,” originally recorded during the height of the Soulquarian era.
“Something To Hold,” definitely blends Jazz, R&B, and Soul. Bilal has his own style and pushing genre-specific lines in his music. The beginning of the song is driven by a high-hat and jazzy piano chords, with the bass coming in shortly after.
Bilal comes in with his high falsetto voice saying, “something to hold on/ something to hold on/ something to hold on too/ something to hold on to”
Bilal’s delivery is very unique and the song could definitely fit in on a Prince playlist. The instrumentation is very simple but that’s all it needs. The song describes feelings of wanting to be with someone and their very existence giving you “something to hold on to.”
In a press release, Bilal says “I felt comfortable to create because I knew I had some of the best motherfuckers in the world playing.” He continues, “I like intimate vibes where everyone’s drawing off the energy in the room. When you’re up there making something and giving, with the people up there listening and receiving, it creates this circular motion of energy, it’s a timeless moment.”
“The evening felt historic,” says Jarrett Wetherell, founder of Glasshaus Presents and producer of the album. “The audience was floored. So many masters creating in an intimate space together makes for a special production. We’re honored to serve Bilal, an artist in the truest sense.”
The setlist includes nine songs stretched into fresh shapes and split up by interludes from Questlove and Common. The project also features “Soul Sista” and “Sometimes” but there are also two tracks from “Love For Sale”—Bilal’s lost early 2000s.
Bilal has worked with high-profile artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Beyonce, and Erykah Badu.
Born Bilal Sayeed Oliver, Bilal grew up in Germantown, a northwest neighborhood of Philadelphia, Penn.
His deep interest in jazz was fostered by his father, who took him to the city’s clubs, and singing eventually became more than an interest, according to Bilal’s official website.
He attended New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he received voice training, as well as training in jazz and big-band arrangements.
Take a listen to “Something To Hold” below.
