Multi-Grammy winner Steve Wonder is looking to add a couple more Grammys to his collection, with the 2020 singles “Where Is Our Love Song” and “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate.” And as usual, he’s doing it on his terms.
Wonder challenged the music industry status quo in 1971 when he signed a new deal with Motown, where he fought for creative control as well as ownership of his master recordings and publishing rights.
Now 71, Stevie insists on doing things his way. Instead of making the Grammy submissions in the typical R&B categories, he pushed to have the songs considered for best melodic rap performance and best American roots performance.
“‘Where Is Our Love Song’ is a song that speaks to everyone, a traditional song or folk song about America,” Wonder tells Billboard. “I said I didn’t care what’s normally done; that I’m not trying to do the typical. So it was submitted in the best American roots performance category.”
As for “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate,” Wonder says, “It was such an honor to work with Rapsody, Cordae, Chika and Busta Rhymes for what became an amazing marriage with conscious rap. I wanted to be a part of celebrating their greatness as well as our collaboration, so that’s why I decided to put it in that category.”
Wonder has racked up a total of 25 Grammy Awards over his 60-year career. He’s also one of only four artists — along with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Taylor Swift — to win album of the year three times, and the only one to do so with three consecutive releases — 1973’s Innervisions, 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale and 1976’s Songs in the Key of Life.
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