Syleena Johnson talks releasing her final solo album, ‘Legacy’

Syleena Johnson is ready to leave us her Legacy.

The singer’s newest – and most likely her last – album is out now and pays tribute to her late father, soul singer Syl Johnson, who passed away in 2022.

“My father was the legacy, the pinnacle of my music,” she tells Billboard. “I feel like [losing him] changed the tone and scope of the album. It changed the intention of the album, and it changed my motivation of why I was creating it.”

Creating the album took two years, a much longer process for Syleena, who says she can typically create an album in a week or two. 

“Every single track has my father in it, so I was trying to make sure that [the album] honored him and highlighted him as well as myself properly,” she says. “I was okay with taking my time and getting it done right.”

The album blends Syleena’s voice with her father’s, a unique approach she wanted to take rather than just sampling his recordings.

“I wanted to show people our similarities [and] the best way to show that is to put us right next to each other,” she says. “There are parts of the record [where] I sound almost like my dad. I wanted to bring him in because I saw him in his last days. I saw him until his last breath. I wanted to remember him in the light that I put him in on this record.”

She confirms that this is “the last Syleena Johnson album,” though she says she’s “constantly going to be creating in some way, shape or form.”

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