The Stevie Wonder album he considered his “most personal”
Most artists can only dream of getting the golden ticket that Stevie Wonder secured in the late 1970s. Having gone through the headache of having to keep satisfying Motown Records, the fulfilment of his contract led to him going on a string of classic albums that are still leaving their mark on music today. Amid the classics, Wonder singled out one album as most indicative of what he was all about.
For the past few projects, Wonder was experimenting with spaces within his usual sound, filtering his voice and signature keyboard lines through strange effects like on the song ‘Evil’ from Music of My Mind. After notching up hits with tracks like ‘Superstition’, Wonder looked to deconstruct his usual approach to lyrics on Innervisions.
Much like Marvin Gaye had done before him, Wonder used many of his songs on the album to paint a picture of his personal experiences living in Detroit. On tracks like ‘Living for the City’, his audience got a taste of what the dangerous side of the city can be like for a person of colour, as Wonder gets off the bus only to get jumped and ultimately framed and locked up in prison for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Looking back on the album, Wonder would call it one of his most reflective efforts, telling Legendary Rock Songs, “Innervisions gives my own perspective of what’s happening in my world. That’s why it took me seven months to get together. I think it’s my most personal album. I don’t care if it sells only five copies – this is the way I feel”.
Wonder’s silver tongue didn’t stop at just one political track. Going through the closer ‘He’s Misstra Know-It-All’, it’s abundantly clear that Wonder is referring to what President Nixon was up to at the time, thinking that he knew what the betterment of America was supposed to be, despite it affecting the poverty-stricken population in the US.
Aside from the songs about hard times, Wonder also reflects on the spiritual side of life throughout the album. Through songs like ‘Higher Ground’ or ‘Jesus Children of America’, Wonder was in tune with what the cosmic side of life had to offer, knowing the power from above.
That cosmic side did seem to catch up with him. Shortly after the sessions, Wonder was involved in a terrible car crash that could have killed him. While Wonder was able to walk away with his life, his appreciation for life led to him making even greater strides in his music, writing masterpieces like Songs in the Key of Life based on how grateful he was to be able to see another day.
None of these honest tracks were made by accident, though. When talking about the making of the album’s tracks, Wonder knew that there might be an otherworldly force working outside of his musical vocabulary, explaining in his biography, “Something must have been telling me that something was going to happen to make me aware of a lot of things and to get myself together. This is like my second chance for life, to do something or to do more, and to value the fact that I am alive”.
