Not long ago, Sheryl Crow said she had released her final album. Threads, arriving in 2019, was made up of duets with the likes of Stevie Nicks, St Vincent, Neil Young and Chuck D. After that, she said, she would continue to perform and release one-off tracks here and there. It was a strange conclusion for an unstoppable career – just that year, Crow had shone on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage – and one she happily retracted last year when she announced the release of Evolution, her 11th album, just before her induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Produced by Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, 50 Cent, Mastodon) and released on 29 March, Evolution is led by the title track, which lays out Crow’s discomfort about the impact of artificial intelligence. “Stephen Hawking worried that AI would replace humans,” Crow said in a statement. “As a mum, I want to leave a better world for my children, a healthier planet – is AI going to be a benevolent partner in these goals or not? It’s unsettling, and this song deals with those anxieties.”
