Chaka Khan is a Legend Subverting Expectations on ‘Chakzilla’

If your only knowledge of Chaka Khan lies in her peerless catalog of R&B classics, from Seventies funk standards with her former band Rufus to the disco masher “I’m Every Woman” and the epic ballad “Through the Fire,” then hearing the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s bright, sparkly new Chakzilla might startle you. It’s on the “pop dance side,” as she said in one recent interview. Mostly co-written with Sia — whom Khan has called “my goddaughter” — and Grammy-winning pop producer Greg Kurstin, it’s buoyed by the same electronic titanium that has long girded Sia bangers like “Unstoppable” and “Cheap Thrills.” In a video for the title track that has already garnered more than a million YouTube views, the 73-year-old icon casts herself as a fabulous giant in high heels, restoring buildings and city streets with a wave of her hand and gold-painted nails, all as a David Guetta-styled electro-house beat thrums underneath her voice. Meanwhile, Khan went viral after another interviewer tried to call her a heterosexual “straight icon” and she retorted, “Am I? How do you know what the fuck I am? I don’t ever share that part of my life. That’s nobody’s business but mine.”

Khan’s life and career is more varied than her platinum status as a legendary funk goddess would suggest. Her years with Rufus not only included “Tell Me Something Good,” “Sweet Thing,” and “Ain’t Nobody” but also the jazz-fusion delight Ask Rufus and the melancholy cautionary tale “Hollywood.” Her solo work ranges from dancefloor cuts like “What ‘Cha Gonna Do for Me” to vocalese like 1986’s “Coltrane Dreams.” In 1984, she helped Melle Mel become the first hip-hop MC to land a Billboard Top Five hit, thanks to his appearance on her electro anthem “I Feel for You.” Her last album before Chakzilla, 2019’s Hello Happiness, found her collaborating with former Major Lazer producer Switch, leading to the rubbery fidget-house gem “Like Sugar.”
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While Hello Happiness was girded by bass bottom, Chakzilla, which she released through her own EarthSong imprint (with distribution from BMG), is filled with chirpy top notes and frizzy melodies. For “Boogie’s in My Soul,” Snoop Dogg shows up and mimics Melle Mel’s “Chaka Khan” intonation as well as his old friend Bootsy Collins while Khan sings, “I’m sweating to the beat” and commands us to “Show the world your light.” She harmonizes with Lenny Kravitz on “Bring the Party,” and the effect is cheery tropical pop. She sounds pleasingly girlish as she sings “I am as sweet as candy” over the strolling bass of “I Know You Can.” But the 33-minute album is overlaid with sugary melodies that feel monochromatic. And the album is missing her iconic balladry, leaving the listener to cope with the “Unstoppable”-styled declaration “Always Love the Challenge” as consolation.

Ultimately, it’s easier to admire Khan for making an album that defiantly subverts her audience’s expectations than wonder if it compares to past peaks in her vaunted career. Chakzilla may very well go down better with younger fans who learned about uptown funk through Bruno Mars instead of Khan’s late friend Prince. If this is their first experience with one of the greatest R&B vocalists of all time, then there are plenty more classics left to explore.