Songs in the Key of Life 50: The EP

After news broke that Stevie Wonder would be touring Europe and the United States to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his majestic 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life, he surprised us at 4:54 a.m. Pacific Time on September 28, 2026, by releasing this EP. It marked exactly 50 years since bassist Nathan Watts exclaimed "Fo’FiftyFo’!" upon wrapping up the final recording session of the album's marathon creation process. The phrase went on to become a running joke among the artist's team, signaling the end of the sessions.

The work contains four outtakes from the recording sessions for the award-winning album. It was rumored that he had composed over 150 songs for the album selection. The songs are: "It’s Easier", "My Life Story of Love", "I Can See the Sun In Late December" and "I’m Into Livin’". Stevie himself selected the recordings, which were mixed by John Fischbach and Gary O. Adante (Gary Olazabal)—recording engineers who had worked on the original album.

“We've lived with Songs in the Key of Life for 50 years, but there's still more to hear”, Stevie said. “We didn't add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it. They bring me back to that time in my life, and now they get to become part of yours”.

Rollingstone magazine reports that "The four songs on the EP expound on the double album’s themes of acknowledging all life and love have to offer. It opens with “It’s Easier,” an upbeat breakup song with the message, “It’s easier to say, ‘Love, bye-bye’/Than to go around with a heart that wants to cry.” The similarly heartbroken “It’s My Life Story of Love” finds Wonder singing, “It’s my life story of love that never comes true,” though he sounds more hopeful than plaintive as he proclaims he’ll win his love back in lyrics he co-wrote with the Supremes’ Susaye Greene. “I Can See the Sun in Late December” is a slow-shuffling ballad about nostalgia for warmer times. And “I’m Into Livin'” is an easy, jazzy funk ballad on which Wonder sings, “I’m into livin’ for your sweet, sweet love, L-O-V-E, love,” his voice rising and falling with the music.”