Lord in heaven! Goodness gracious! I just can’t believe it! On Wednesday morning, Columbia Records announced that one Barbra Joan Streisand will release her 37th studio album this summer—and it’s a follow-up to Partners, her Grammy-nominated duets album from 2014.
Produced by Walter Afanasieff and Peter Asher, with Streisand and Jay Landers as executive producers, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two will be out everywhere on June 27. (It’s available for pre-order digitally, on CD, and on vinyl now.) Happily, however, we’ve been gifted its first single: a cover of Ewan MacColl’s 1957 folk ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”—popularized by Roberta Flack in the early 1970s—performed by Streisand and the Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, né Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
“Barbra Streisand is one of the most enduring and iconic vocalists of our time, and somebody who defined an era with the sheer force of her voice, her talent, charisma, and vision,” said Hozier-Byrne—who recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Hozier—in a release. “To be asked to join her on a duet was a huge honour and came as a wonderful and welcome surprise.”
Calling “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” “one of the most beautiful love songs ever written,” he added: “Along with the honor I have to sing on this record with Barbra, I hope this duet offers something of a gesture to Roberta Flack’s incredible legacy.”
The other anointed performers involved with the album? Bob Dylan (for a version of the Ray Noble standard “The Very Thought of You”), Paul McCartney, Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey together (you’d be forgiven for forgetting that Streisand and Grande have history), Laufey, Tim McGraw, James Taylor, Sting, Sam Smith, Josh Groban, and Seal.
“I’ve always loved singing duets with gifted artists. They inspire me in unique and different ways… and make our time in the studio a joy!” Streisand said in the same release. “I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to our collaborations as much as I enjoyed recording with all of my wonderful partners.”
Of course, few solo artists have produced as many truly great duets as Streisand has—going back to her joyous medley of “Get Happy” and “Happy Days Are Here Again” with Judy Garland in 1963. Later years would yield the likes of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” with Neil Diamond; “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” with Donna Summer; “Guilty” with Barry Gibb; “I Finally Found Someone” with Bryan Adams; and “Tell Him” with Celine Dion—all of which appeared on Streisand’s 2002 compilation album Duets—as well as the albums Partners (2014), featuring Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé, Billy Joel, John Legend, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, and Elvis Presley; and Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016). (You’ve surely heard Streisand’s recording of “At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line with Anne Hathaway and Daisy Ridley, right? Or her “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” with Jamie Foxx? Cool, just checking!)
Nevertheless, this morning’s news feels like the perfect occasion to revisit a few more of Streisand’s best duets—from her records, movies, concerts, television specials, and more. As we bide our time until June 27, have a moment with nine of them, below:
“You Are Woman, I Am Man” from Funny Girl with Omar Sharif, 1968
While its premise may mildly alarm modern audiences (a young Fanny Brice is being wined and dined in a private room by the older and rather mysterious Nicky Arnstein), this number is incredibly funny—“A bit of paté?” “Oh, I drink it all day!”—and a nice chance to hear Sharif’s perfectly passable speak-singing voice.
“Close to You” with Burt Bacharach, 1971
Please—the way she’s looking at him! An all-timer version of one of the great love songs of the 20th century. (Miss you, Burt!)
“You’re the Top” with Ryan O’Neal, 1972
An interpretation of Cole Porter and John McGlinn’s 1934 standard as endlessly charming as the movie it was used in: Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc?.
“Cryin’ Time” with Ray Charles, 1973
A highlight of Barbra Streisand ... and Other Musical Instruments, her batty but vocally nonpareil CBS television special from 1973. We love a bluesy, twangy moment from Streisand—here, with a gorgeous assist from Ray Charles, who first recorded this song, by Buck Owens, in the mid-1960s.
“Lost Inside of You” with Kris Kristofferson, 1976
Their version of “Evergreen” is very, very dear—Kristofferson, may he rest, is so shy!—but don’t sleep on “Lost Inside of You,” the other song from A Star Is Born that Streisand co-wrote (this time, with Leon Russell, of “A Song for You” fame).
“What Kind of Fool” with Barry Gibb, 1980
Another song long overshadowed by a flashier counterpart from the same project (in this case, the titular “Guilty”)! Slower, slightly schmaltzier, but still so good. (“We let the bough break, we let the heartache in / Who’s sorry now?”)
“Make No Mistake, He’s Mine” with Kim Carnes, 1984
Ironically, it’s just how different Streisand and Kim Carnes’s voices are that make this ur-“The Boy Is Mine” two-hander so effective.
“I Have a Love/One Hand, One Heart” with Johny Mathis, 1993
A fan of Johnny Mathis’s since she was 15, and saw him on The Ed Sullivan Show, Streisand finally had the chance to duet with him in the 1990s, when they recorded “I Have a Love/One Hand, One Heart,” a mash-up of songs from West Side Story, together.
“It’s so lovely when you meet someone you’ve admired from afar, and they turn out to be exactly who you hoped they’d be…a real gentleman,” Streisand wrote of Mathis in her memoir, My Name Is Barbra.
“Yentl Medley” with herself at The Concert, 1994
Yes, Streisand had duetted with herself before, but never quite like this. The greatest star, now and forever.