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Song Review: Mavis Staples - “Beautiful Strangers”

With her cover of Kevin Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers,” Mavis Staples emphasizes the spiritual side of a song bemoaning secular evil.

Set to a gently flowing soundtrack accentuated with rimshot drums and wordless, gospel-flavored backgrounds, Staples sings gracefully of Freddie Gray and Bataclan in an uncharacteristically smooth voice.

Pray for Paris/they cannot scare us/or stop the music/your sweet voice, child/why don't you use it/if I die too young, or the gunmen come/I’m full of love, Staples sings with utmost confidence and faith.

This masterful remake follows “Godspeed” and announces the Nov. 7 release of Sad and Beautiful World, which combines originals with the aforementioned Frank Ocean track and others by Tom Waits, Gillian Welch, Curtis Mayfield and Leonard Cohen.

If any of them come close to the monster of heartbreak and hope that is “Beautiful Strangers,” then Staples will have more than one new song to call canonical.

Grade card: Mavis Staples - “Beautiful Strangers” - A+

8/27/25

#Mavis Staples