Stevie Wonder is back with his first new music in four years. New single “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” finds the music legend attempting to break down walls and bring people together, a task he’s uniquely suited for as one of the most universally revered performers on Earth.
“Can we fix our nation’s broken heart? Are we brave enough to try?” Wonder asks in the ballad’s opening lines. “Can we fix our nation’s broken heart/ And leave a better world behind?” Backed by acoustic guitar and an understated beat, his peerless voice pleads with “all my brothers and sisters” to find solutions to problems like poverty, homelessness, hatred, and negativity within American culture. After all, “We are family.” The self-produced song also features a harmonica solo from Wonder.
“Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” continues a focus on American social issues also demonstrated on Wonder’s pair of 2020 singles. “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate,” featuring rappers Rapsody, Chika, Cordae, and Busta Rhymes, addressed institutional racism, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement, while the Gary Clark Jr. collaboration “Where Is Our Love Song” offered a heartfelt call for unity.
Wonder has been a beloved musical fixture for more than six decades. At age 12, he became the youngest artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “Fingertips, Part 2.” He went on to top the chart seven more times while racking up countless other timeless classics. His catalog altered the course of modern music in myriad ways, popularizing the use of synthesizers in R&B and helping to usher in an album-centric approach to the genre. He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and won 25 Grammys in addition to an Academy Award.
Listen to “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” here.