Watch Ray BLK’s powerful cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Goin’ On’

She performed the track to mark the first anniversary of George Floyd's death

Ray BLK covered the Marvin Gaye classic ‘What’s Goin’ On’ during a BBC live session last night (May 25) – watch the video below.

The London singer-songwriter was participating in 1Xtra’s Talks: Pain, Power And Progress programme, which included “a special discussion” to mark the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

Accompanied by piano, Ray BLK offered up a stirring rendition of Gaye’s 1971 single from his album of the same name.

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“Yesterday marked the year since the death of George Floyd and we’re still asking ourselves what’s going on,” the singer wrote on Twitter today (May 26) while sharing her cover.

It comes after ex-police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of George Floyd last month. Chauvin was fired following Floyd’s death last year on May 25 and was later charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter on May 29.

Ray recently released ‘Dark Skinned’, a new track she dedicated to “the underrepresented, the over plagiarised and uncredited”. It’s expected to appear on her forthcoming debut album, which will follow 2018’s ‘Empress’ project.

Further details on Ray BLK’s debut studio effort – including a title, tracklist and release date – are still under wraps, although a recent NME cover feature revealed it would present “a moodier, more unruly version of the artist”.

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“I felt influenced to make this sort of acoustic, instrumentalist-style album,” she explained. “But now, in 2021, I’m in a completely different space. I just wanted to make the music that I actually listened to.”

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