Idol Chatter & Voice Views

This week marks the release of the long-awaited post-Voice album from Season 4 standout Judith Hill.

And if you’re unfamiliar with the story behind the album, let’s get this bit of information out of the way first: It was produced by Prince.

“Back in Time,” complete with 11 songs written by Judith, is due out Friday. It’s available for pre-order on iTunes.

You can listen to it before its release on the New York Times website. “Cry, Cry, Cry” is the first single; Judith sounds especially superb on a ballad called “Beautiful Life.”

Judith was 28 when she auditioned for The Voice and shared the story of how she was selected to be Michael Jackson’s duet partner for his “This Is It” tour, which of course never happened because of his death.

Given her impressive pre-show credentials, she seemed finals-bound, but wound up bowing out in the Top 8 during the season which featured Danielle Bradbery, Michelle Chamuel and The Swon Brothers in the finale.

Judith also sang backup for Stevie Wonder. After The Voice, she appeared in the Academy Award winning 2013 documentary “20 Feet from Stardom” about the lives of background singers.

But she calls working with Prince her ultimate dream in an interview with The Daily Record.

“He was awesome to work with,” she told the newspaper. “And he’s just such a genius in what 
he does. He’s very silly and fun, very 
keen on playing pranks but also really accomplished on all of the instruments 
in the studio. And I mean all of them. He’s just so wise with his suggestions too. Working with him was like going to 
school.”

As for the music on “Back in Time,” here’s how Judith describes it.

“It’s a funk/soul album that really celebrates the stuff that I grew up on. The way it was done is that it was 
very organic, basically just jamming 
in the studio and pressing record.”

For more on the album and the story on how Judith came to work with Prince, head here.