“Creole Culture is my way of saying that New Orleans culture doesn’t have to live in the past to be authentic. It can be progressive. It can be global. It can be pop culture. It can look like me.” — Dawn Richard
Dawn Richard, the “ever-evolving, impossible-to-pigeonhole” (New York Times) multidisciplinary artist, today announces her new album, Creole Culture, out October 9th via Merge Records, and releases the new single, “enough.”
Steeped in history but with its flag planted firmly in the future, Creole Culture pulls elements from Richard’s heritage as a Black and Native American woman who has spent a lifetime making and engaging with music. Following New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021), Creole Culture is akin to a panel of a triptych: a fully-realized sonic and narrative universe in which Richard, as King Creole, rebuilds her hometown of New Orleans in her image. She not only honours her city for what it was or what it gave her, but stakes a claim for it as a cradle of global culture now and for all time.
Following early album preview “baby, can we? (feat. durand bernarr),” praised by Out as “a match made in R&B heaven,” today’s single “enough” “is about unlearning the lie that your value has to be earned,” Richard says. “Sometimes the greatest act of resistance is believing you were always worthy.”
Creole Culture is triumphant and tragic, sexy and mournful, braggadocious and contemplative. The album presents Richard’s New Orleans as a utopian soundscape — an intoxicating blend of R&B, soul, hip-hop, pop, and jazz — that’s survived and thrived despite the dystopian circumstances visited upon it.
Across Creole Culture, Richard worked with co-executive producer Katalyst, the Inglewood-based collective founded by drummer and producer Greg Paul. Comprised of world-class composers, producers, and instrumentalists who have collaborated with artists including Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Jay-Z, Lizzo, Usher, and Anderson .Paak, Katalyst brings an unmistakable musical depth expanding Creole Culture’s vision beyond genre. “Collaborating with Kataylst on the album has been a natural extension of my artistic journey,” says Richard. “Together, we’re creating music that honors multiple genres while aiming to push the culture forward.”
With a crew of guest stars including Big Freedia, Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, and Durand Bernarr, Creole Culture offers a softer take on the brass-soaked swagger of Richard’s previous King Creole efforts, an evolution brought about upon realizing a crucial viewpoint was left out of her exploration of New Orleans: her own. “New Breed was the story of New Orleans through my father’s eyes,” Dawn explains. “I used his samples, his music, his cultures, his work with Chocolate Milk, his side of the family. Second Line was my mom — her interludes riddled the album with her depiction of what is meant to be a Creole woman in New Orleans. The masculine and feminine sides of King Creole had expressed themselves through them, but the story felt unfinished, like my version of the story was untold.”
King Creole creates a space where Richard can breathe, can be at peace with herself, and let loose with others. From finding love in album opener “enough” to relishing in the Afrocaribbean futurism of “fiesta,” Creole Culture is a tremendous, freeing breath of fresh air. It captures the resolve of a woman and a place who’ve survived the unimaginable and sees the future not as something to be endured, but as something to be created.
1. a creole culture intro (feat. big freedia)
2. enough
3. only fans
4. chuuuuurch (feat. anjelika jelly joseph)
5. groove city (feat. frank richard of chocolate milk)
6. l v r (feat. tarriona ‘tank’ ball)
7. pilates
8. baby, can we? (feat. durand bernarr)
9. motives
10. fiesta
11. faith in the fire
Creole Culture Album Artwork. Photo credit: Jeremy Tauriac