WaterTower Music shares soundtrack for Blitz Bazawule’s The Color Purple

Titled The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By), the LP is made up of 22 songs, including songs from the film, newly penned songs and remixes. It’s available for streaming and download here.

The songs accompany the film’s tale highlighting the challenges confronted by young African-American girls in the early 20th century, touching on racism, sexism and sexual violence.

Co-written by award-winning songwriters Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, the project assembles a cast comprising Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, H.E.R. and Halle Bailey. Others include Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Coco Jones, Jorja Smith, Celeste, Mary Mary, October London and Usher.

The rest are Missy Elliot, Megan Thee Stallion, Timbaland and Black Thought, who each “elevate their signature sounds magnifying the soul of the original songs and creating a bridge between generations of music lovers,” according to a statement.

Executive-produced by Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini and Mara Jacobs, the film was produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones. It is based on the 1982 novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and was adapted to the screen in 1985 as a period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, earning 11 Oscar nominations. It was followed in 2005 by a Broadway musical.

Bazawule, who co-directed Beyoncé’s Black Is King film, was announced three years ago as director for The Color Purple after the film’s producers were reportedly highly impressed with the visual approach on his 2018 directorial debut The Burial of Kojo, Ghana’s first Golden Globes entry.

Bazawule is the founder of the Africa Film Society and a recipient of the 2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Contemporary Music. As a musician, performing under the stage name Blitz the Ambassador, he is behind multiple EPs and four full-length albums including Stereotype (2009), Native Sun (2011), Afropolitan Dreams (2014) and Diasporadical (2016). His debut novel The Scent of Burnt Flowers was released in June 2022.