Asha Sydney Honors Roberta Flack with a Soulful Cover
This Friday, March 21st, singer-songwriter and producer Asha Sydney will share her heartfelt rendition of Roberta Flack’s Feel Like Makin’ Love, a track featured on Shore Points Records’ Girls Only Compilation Album.
Asha, raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, has been immersed in music since childhood. She started singing in church, released her first EP in high school, and continued to refine her craft while majoring in music production at Rider University in New Jersey. Now based in New York City and pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia, she dreams of making music her full-time career.
Honoring Roberta Flack’s Legacy
When selecting a song to cover, Asha wanted to pay tribute to a legendary Black female artist. Reflecting on Roberta Flack’s recent passing, she saw the perfect opportunity to honor her legacy with Feel Like Makin’ Love.
“Roberta Flack is just a name that I have always heard listed amongst some of the greats when people talk about music. Her duet with Donny Hathaway, The Closer I Get To You, will always be one of my favorite songs,” Asha shares. “A couple years ago, I purchased her Killing Me Softly vinyl, and listening to it is just such a beautiful experience.”
Asha doesn’t remember the first time she heard Feel Like Makin’ Love—it’s one of those timeless songs that has always existed in her musical memory. She approached the cover with great care, acknowledging the weight of Flack’s influence while ensuring her own artistry shined through.
Asha’s musical influences span across genres, with powerful women like Jazmine Sullivan, Nai Palm, Clairo, Kelela, and Erykah Badu shaping her sound. She admires the increasing presence of women in the music industry, particularly within the independent scene, where emerging female artists and producers are forging their own paths.
But challenges persist. “Oversexualization and not being taken seriously,” she notes. “Women have to be good at everything while men have to be decent at like one or two things.” She believes the industry must do better by truly listening to and respecting women in music.
A Personal Take on a Timeless Classic
Covering Feel Like Makin’ Love was a different creative process for Asha compared to her original music. She wanted to honor the essence of the song while bringing her own perspective to it. “D’Angelo’s cover of this song is my favorite, so I tried not to get in my head about comparisons,” she explains. “I just wanted my version to feel as sweet and tender as the original.”
Looking to the Future
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Asha is excited about highlighting the contributions of women in all spaces, especially music. If given the opportunity to collaborate with any artist, past or present, she names Cleo Sol as a dream collaboration. “She may not be as famous as some of my other influences, but she’s been incredibly influential to me.”
Asha’s advice to young women looking to make their mark in the music industry is simple: “Never stop making music. You never know which songs your people are going to like, and you never know how the songs you write will grow on you over time.”
With her heartfelt tribute to Roberta Flack, Asha Sydney continues to carve her own path, bringing warmth and soul to everything she creates. Be sure to check out her cover this Friday and celebrate the incredible women shaping the sounds of today and tomorrow.
Find Asha Sydney wherever you listen to music and on social media here!