Producer and DJ DESIREE reimagines Nina Simone’s iconic Four Women, delivering a remix that moves between emotional depth and dancefloor energy.
Released via Verve Label Group as part of its Year of Nina campaign, the track marks a rare moment. Nina Simone’s catalogue is carefully protected and seldom reinterpreted, making this release one grounded in both trust and cultural significance.
Originally written during the Civil Rights era, Four Women explores layered narratives of Black womanhood, touching on identity, race, class and colourism. It remains one of Simone’s most powerful and uncompromising works.
DESIREE approaches the track with intention. Rather than reworking it for the sake of novelty, she creates a dialogue between past and present, allowing the story to resonate within a contemporary context while maintaining its original weight.
Speaking on the process, she explains:
“There are songs that already say everything. Four Women is one of them. The deeper I got into Nina Simone’s world, the more I felt it speaking directly to me. When I came to make this remix, I didn’t want to change what it meant. I just wanted to bring it somewhere new, somewhere you could move to it, lose yourself in it, and still feel every word.” – DESIREE
The result is a textured, genre-blurring piece. Subtle piano elements and layered production anchor the track, while its rhythm opens it up to the dance-floor, balancing introspection with movement.
As one of South Africa’s rising voices in electronic music, DESIREE continues to expand Afro-house beyond its traditional spaces. This release stands as both homage and evolution, carrying forward the emotional and historical thread of the original while introducing it to new audiences.
