Among one of 2024’s most exciting debuts, Lee Lewis packed a decade’s worth of frustration and pain—and the sense of personal growth that followed—into the seven tracks that made up Something Burning. Today, the LA-based songwriter returns with another stirring, soulful examination of queer Black identity that will instantly sound familiar to Millennial ears: his new single is a cover of Nelly Furtado’s 2006 hit “Maneater,” albeit with its familiarly confrontational Timbaland-by-way-of-Hall-&-Oates beat softened to more readily pair with Lewis’ smooth vocals.
The artist shares that it wasn’t only the instrumental that was updated for this reinterpretation, but also the emotional nuances of its vocal performance. “My soulful reimagining of ‘Maneater’ reframes the song’s story as one of toxic love; what it feels like to be devoured in plain sight,” Lewis shares. “It’s about a lover who fed off my softness, brilliance, and Blackness, someone magnetic and draining, seductive and destructive all at once. In covering the track, I wanted to strip away some of its famed pop edges and pull it into the soul genre, where the pain, obsession, and sensuality could fully breathe.”
Regarding his source material, Lewis adds: “As a queer kid growing up in LA, Nelly Furtado was one of my icons, and this song has become both a mirror and a release for me. The result is dark, primal, and immensely sexy—a reinvention of a pop classic done through the voice of soul.”
Check out the cover below, and revisit the “Neighborhoods” session Lewis shot for us last year in LA here.
