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Jun 19, 2020 By Christopher Roberts and Samantha Small Leon Bridges

Last night Leon Bridges performed his recent single “Sweeter” on The Late Late Show with James Corden. He was joined by Terrace Martin and Robert Glasper. Before the performance Corden interviewed Bridges about the song, a track that is relevant in the current climate and tackles racism. Watch the performance below.

“Growing up in Texas I have personally experienced racism, my friends have experienced racism.” Bridgers said in a previous press statement. “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.’”

The studio version of the track has a slow groove, with a midi-drum track tumbling over resonant keys and Bridges’ gentle timbre. With simple instrumentation, Bridges wants to make the message clear: Black Lives Matter. “Because you stole from me /My chance to be,” he sings.

“It is always an honor to share a platform with my dear brother Leon Bridges,” Martin said in the previous press release. “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.”

Leon Bridges’ last album, Good Thing, came out in 2018 via Columbia. Terrace Martin also recently released the new protest song “PIG FEET,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

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