Following the release of her seventh album The Truth (2014), two concert tours: The Truth Tour (2014) and The Intimate Truth Tour (2015), and her portrayal of Mahalia Jackson in the historicaldrama filmSelma (2014), Ledisi took a career hiatus in 2016. She returned to recording music at the request of her music collaborator and producer Rex Rideout.[3]
Recording and production
This project was harder for me because I wasn't ready to record. It's like going into a marathon and you're physically in there but your mental isn't there. That's how I was, trying to get into it. I just wasn't ready, but Rex was like, It's time.' When I started to work on it and met different producers and different people, I didn’t know who they were. I just walked into a room empty, blank, not really knowing what to do. I just became a follower and it opened a door for me to experience different writers and producers. I had a good time working with DJ Khalil, John Legend as a writer. Working with Rex [Rideout] was my favorite still because it was just basic piano and singing. It was us together just writing a song the old-fashioned way.
In July 2017, Ledisi told Billboard magazine that the album "This album was one of the hardest I've ever worked on. We were looking for songs that could stand the test of time. This wasn't a quickie; it was about great songwriting. I've come back to what I love about R&B and also what I love about today’s music."[1] She recorded a mixture of songs and interlude[disambiguation needed]s inspired by 1970's soul to 21st century R&B.[1][5]
Release and promotion
On July 31, 2017, Ledisi revealed the title of the album and its release date to Billboard magazine.[1] In August 2017, Ledisi performed "High" on the annual award show Black Girls Rock!. Let Love Rule was released on September 22, 2017.[1] She later performed "High" on American syndicated talk showHarry on October 6, 2017.[citation needed] On November 21, 2017, Ledisi appeared on NPR Music's Tiny Desk to perform a brief set list of songs from the album; including "Let Love Rule", "Add to Me", and "High".[6]
Singles
"High" was released as the first single on May 12, 2017. The song, a mixture of trap music and R&B, entered Billboard's Adult R&B Songs chart on June 17, 2017, and peaked at number seven.[7] It spent a total of twenty-one weeks on the chart.[7] On August 21, 2017, Ledisi released the music video for "High", directed by her husband Ron T. Young. "Add to Me" was released as the album's second single on September 22, 2017. The song peaked at number nineteen on the Adult R&B Songs chart.[7] The music video was also directed by Ron T. Young.
"If You Don't Mind", which features gospel musician Kirk Franklin, was released as a radio-only single in late 2017. The song peaked number ten on Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart, number eleven on the Gospel Airplay chart, and number seventeen on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart.[7] On January 12, 2018, Ledisi released "All the Way" as the final single of the album. The song peaked number eight on the Adult R&B Songs chart.[7]
On October 25, 2017, Ledisi embarked on The Rebel, The Soul & The Saint Tour alongside Kirk Franklin and PJ Morton. During the tour, Ledisi performed a R&Bset list. The tour received positive reviews for its innovative way in "combining multi-genres on one bill could only be deemed risky by those not knowing that prior to the 1900s gospel music had influenced jazz and blues and after the 1900s jazz and blues were influencing gospel music."[8]
In May 2018, she embarked on the Let Love Rule Tour to promote the album, with Melanie Fiona and Tweet opening for her.[9] The tour featured seventeen dates and ended on June 19, 2018.
In his review for AllMusic, editor Andy Kellman wrote that Ledisi "continues to roll with Let Love Rule, an album rich with her characteristically positive and proud outlook and superhuman vocal skill. It's something of a milestone for Ledisi and long-term collaborator Rex Rideout, who have been recording together since 2007. The four songs they co-wrote are top of the line, showing they've only gained steam since then."[4]Steve Horowitz of PopMatters praised the album for its themes "..about living for today, remembering tomorrow is a new start, that pain is essential to forgiveness, listening needed for understanding, and love is all that really matters."[10]
In the United States, Let Love Rule debuted at number one-hundred on the Billboard 200, only remaining on that chart for one week.[7] The album also spent one week on the Top R&B Albums chart.[7]