Since finding fame as a retro soul singer, Leon Bridges has continually added fascinating wrinkles to his sound. Bridges’ 2018 album Good Thing nudged his music in a more modern direction while keeping one foot in the past. He has successfully collaborated with artists ranging from DeJ Loaf to John Mayer, and he recently released a whole EP with his fellow Texans, the psych-funk trio Khruangbin. Today he delivers another satisfying evolution.

Bridges’ new single “Sweeter” pairs him with Terrace Martin, the LA jazz and hip-hop virtuoso whose aggressive protest anthem “PIG FEET” topped our list of last week’s best songs. This one’s far calmer on the surface, but a storm rages inside. On “Sweeter,” against a slow-creeping programmed beat and Martin’s gentle saxophone flourishes, Bridges reckons with life under racism: “Hoping for a life more sweeter/ Instead I’m just a story repeating/ Why do I fear with skin dark as night?/ Can’t feel peace with those judging eyes.” It’s a lovely and compelling piece of music.

Bridges shared the following statement in a press release:

Growing up in Texas I have personally experienced racism, my friends have experienced racism. From adolescence we are taught how to conduct ourselves when we encounter police to avoid the consequences of being racially profiled. I have been numb for too long, calloused when it came to the issues of police brutality. The death of George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. It was the first time I wept for a man I never met. I am George Floyd, my brothers are George Floyd, and my sisters are George Floyd. I cannot and will not be silent any longer. Just as Abel’s blood was crying out to God, George Floyd is crying out to me. So, I present to you Sweeter.

Martin shared a statement too:

It is always an honor to share a platform with my dear brother Leon Bridges. This is meditation music; it is not music for the ears but rather music for the heart. I truly believe that eyes have been deceiving us for so long but the heart always tells the truth. The heart needs to be repaired. Black folk have been deceived so many years, the only thing that can turn it around is a heart full of love.

Listen below.