The third single from her forthcoming album, “Flying with Angels,” due by May 2, 2025, “Chambermaid” is an homage and elaboration. A reflection on Bob Dylan’s 1966 song “I Want You,” Vega tells the story not from the singer’s perspective but through the eyes of the peripheral woman, the chambermaid, the sorry character, now wide awake, articulate, and resolute in Vega’s poetic middlebrow way.
Produced by her long-time collaborator Gerry Leonard, the song unfurls with characteristic Suzanne Vega grace. The instrumentation is understated but textured, and her mesmeric, feather-light, and intimate delivery are the focal points. There’s something old, new, enduring, and urgently timely about the record. Humble, classic folk elements take on a crisp new visage and together forge a sound that feels at once like a quiet confessional booth and a crowd-free wing at a rock history museum.
Vega’s perspective on the song transforms it into something quietly radical. This chambermaid muses about her values, dreams, and place in someone else’s story, insisting that she is more than a historical footnote. It’s an act of empathetic genius, reversing the gaze and inquiring if the muse could speak, if she didn’t only inspire, but challenged, yearned and maybe even outpaced the poet she once worshipped.
For old-time followers of Vega, this is classic territory literary, emotionally intelligent, and bitingly subversive. But “Chambermaid” is something larger about “Flying with Angels,” a return to character-driven songwriting processed through a modern lens, where myths are gently torn down and reassembled with affection. With “Chambermaid,” Suzanne Vega is proving once more that sometimes the most potent stories are told from the edges.
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