R&B singer Mya returns with her first album in 8 years

To know where the R&B singer Mýa is headed in 2026, it is best to look backward. In 2003, she released her third studio album, “Moodring,” featuring the track “Sophisticated Lady.” It wasn’t a single, but it was noteworthy: a new take on Rick James’ “Cold-Blooded,” a swerve into funk music from a performer best known for midtempo slow jams. “I’ve given you all the baby-making music I can,” she joked to The Associated Press — and the James cover offered something a little different. It was another sonic direction she was waiting for the right moment to fully explore.

Her tenth studio album, “Retrospect,” out on Friday, threads the needle from then to now. It’s a collection of throwback bangers, weaving 70s and 80s Minneapolis funk, pop, R&B and soul in one cheerful, nostalgic package. “This is performance music, its personality music, so people get to see another part of my personality — very laid back, but I’m not there anymore,” she adds. “I’m outside and I’m having fun and really enjoying my life.” It’s also her first album in eight years.

During the pandemic, Mýa found herself returning to the music of her childhood for healing — the stuff that would play in the living room, on “Soul Train,” at the roller rink, at cookouts: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the S.O.S. Band, “Prince, Vanity 6, Teena Marie, Rick James, Mary Jane Girls, Patrice Rushen. The list goes on and on,” she says. “That’s also a part of the title, “Retrospect.” It’s not just retro leading into the 70s and 80s. It’s about introspections as well.” Those influences are found everywhere: On the opener “Give It To You,” she borrows James’ inflections on the word “elated.” In the West Coast funk “Just a Little Bit,” featuring the Bay Area rapper Too $hort, an ad-lib recalls Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time.” The “whoo!” at the top of “No Pressure” is all Teena Marie. The big ballad “Just Call My Name” pulls influence from Mýa’s mentor, Prince, with its “Purple Rain”-style guitars.

And even though there’s a treasure trove of rich source material, there are no samples on the release. “Prince was very adamant about no samples, so I’m adhering to all of those rules,” she says. “I’m staying there in this independent journey.” Digging through her influences, and pulling from their insight, has been restorative. “I’m being reminded of all of the things that are embedded in my soul,” she says of this music. “There’s so much stuff in here that I’m discovering comes from a specific place.”

And while eight years between albums might sound like a long time for any artist, Mýa has been routinely dropping singles. But for a full-length project, she saw a value in taking her time. “I’ve actually revisited a few songs, of course, added features, remade (songs), and I’ve taken different approaches for certain tracks as well with my production partner, MyGuyMars. We also remastered the whole album twice after remixing it. It’s about when its right and ready to our ears,” she says. “It’s kind of like serving a meal undercooked. You would never want to do that for your customers.”

Looking at the giants that come before you to write a hooky song is nothing Mýa isn’t used to. “I’ve had the most fun in the studio and on stage going back. A lot of my career has throwbacks and comes from somewhere. There’s ‘Ghetto Supastar,’ of course, (which) comes from Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers,” she says. Mýa’s 1998 hit with the Fugees’ Pras Michel and Ol’ Dirty Bastard offered a new take on Parton and Rogers’ “Islands in the Stream.”

Then she shifts gears to one of her best-known tracks: “’Lady Marmalade,’ we’re not the first,” she said, referencing the song that first became a hit in 1974 when it was recorded by Labelle, “They were the pioneers and the creators and the first performers of that song.”

Associated Press