Stevie Wonder has shared two new songs and signed a new record deal with Republic Records.

The veteran singer dropped the tracks ‘Where Is Our Love Song’ and ‘Can’t Put It in The Hands Of Fate’, which you can view below, during a virtual press conference this evening (October 13). He also announced he was leaving Motown after nearly 60 years.

He has launched his own imprint – So What The Fuss Music. “I had a great conversation with Monte Lipman, the (Republic) president, and I spoke with India.Arie, who had signed with Republic,” Wonder said.

Wonder had been a Motown Recording artist for his entire career, since he signed with the label as an 11-year-old in 1961.

“Even though I have left Motown, I never leave Motown. That’s Detroit. So I’m sure that we can figure out how we can do some things at Motown. Maybe I’ll do my ‘Gospel Inspired by Lula’ with Motown. We’ll work it out,” he said, referring to a gospel project named after his late mother he announced in 2013.

The musician also said that he is working on potentially putting out a compilation EP that would include the two new songs, and will be releasing a new solo album ‘Through the Eyes of Wonder’.

Of the two new tracks, he said of ‘Where Is Our Love Song’: “It is a song that really I started working on when I was 18, not even knowing what the song was going to be about, but I had the melody. Then this year came all the confusion and all the hate and all the east versus west, left versus right.

“It’s just a heartbreak. And those who say ‘This is what God has said… this is my religion,’ it’s just a lot of confusion… I’m watching all this and say, ‘Hold up, how can you be talking about God and there be hate in your spirit?’.”

Of the latter track, ‘Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate’, Wonder added: “I was thinking about where we are in the world. And I was thinking about how this is most crucial time. Not just Black people or people of colour but young people everywhere are going, ‘This is not acceptable.’ Change is right now. We can’t put it in the hands of fate. Ain’t nobody got time to wait.”

Earlier this month, he opened up about racial tensions in the US and the failings of Donald Trump in an impassioned new video.