Transa:Selects reintroduces Sade Adu to the world with a song for her trans son, Izaak. The culture-shifting ballad “Young Lion” debuts with a side-length original by André 3000 and appearances by Sam Smith, L’Rain & more. These singles from the 46-track prismatic spiritual journey of Red Hot Org’s TRANSA glimpse the project’s full epic sonic palette and time travel. An essential line-in to a restored universe, Transa:Selects gives gender-expansive waymakers their pasts and futures. These are the tracks that drew the New York Times to announce the full project and outlets like Rolling Stone to show early interest with features. Wendy & Lisa from Prince’s band join standout newcomer Lauren Auder to reinterpret “I Would Die 4 U,” here a raw monument to the spirit’s resolve. Beverly Glenn-Copeland reprises his song “Ever New” with Sam Smith. Their voices together unroll a welcome to the new generation named in the lyrics. Glenn-Copeland’s rhapsodic composition flourishes for Sam Smith’s wide audience to mirror the trans elder’s experience of emerging from obscurity — and the younger artist’s own journey back to self. L’Rain presents two Anohni melters — “People Are Small” and “Rapture” — alongside voices from the NYC Trans Oral History Project. L’Rain’s performance reminded Anohni herself of the stakes during the AIDS crisis and its parallel to the barriers trans people face in accessing healthcare that would save their lives. André 3000 uses Side 2 of Transa:Selects to process along with the listener with “Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I’m Happy To Stand For The Understanding (Awakening).” In a powerful statement, Sade Adu affirms the trans child and seeks their forgiveness with “Young Lion.” Transa:Selects lets grief and possibility exist together: the way in to a new world.
