Song of the Day: Gladys Knight “Just a Little”

When an icon who has been in the game for decades attempts to update their sound for a younger generation, you either get a wonderful result or something that you pretend isn’t part of their discography. Fortunately for empress of soul Gladys Knight, “Just a Little” is a fun dancefloor romp that’s contemporary as well as age appropriate for a 71 year young diva.

While falling deep into a YouTube hole of interviews of some of my favorite artists, the autoplay feature dropped me into this delightful chat that Gladys Knight had with Sway on his SiriusXM show. Not only did I learn that Gladys Knight is as warm and funny as your favorite auntie at your family reunion, the song was produced by someone I greatly admire who has had an amazing career trajectory.

I first got hip to Symbolic One through his underground hip-hop group Strange Fruit Project in the early aughts. Over the course of their five releases, they remained a fave of a small but devoted progressive rap fanbase while S1’s production career slowly climbed. At present his discography includes work for Beyoncé, Ghostface Killah, Kanye West and Eminem but for a musician steeped in soul, a Gladys Knight credit is particularly special.

So the look for Gladys Knight 2015 with S1 in the driver’s seat is a melodic uptempo stepper with great soaring horns and Madame Knight’s ageless vocals. The empress even takes a turn behind the decks during a light glitch breakdown as the dancefloor fills with lithe party people throwing shapes. And featured as cameos in that group of party people are Ledisi, Eric Benet, Chante Moore, Kelly Price and other soul stars of the modern age who stand on the shoulders of Gladys Knight and her peers.

Song of the Day: Gladys Knight “Just a Little”