Hear Macy Gray's Gorgeously Reimagined Version of "I Try"

Almost 20 years after its release, Macy Gray's iconic "I Try" has gotten a jazz-infused update from the singer herself.

The new version will appear on Gray's forthcoming album, Stripped (out September 9, and available for pre-order now), a collection of jazz-tinged new songs, covers, and arrangements of her own classics. The new version feels totally effortless, yet just as influenced by love's spell as the original. Now, though, when she sings, "I believe that fate has brought us here," it's with a relaxed kind of conviction born of having lived a little—or a whole lot.

Recording a jazz album, Gray tells ELLE.com, "was such a completely unexpected but refreshing and fun thing to do." The title of the album—which will be her tenth—might well refer to the stripped-down way it was recorded: "We bunkered up in an abandoned church in Brooklyn and just started laying down some of my favorite songs from over the years," she says.

Stripped isn't the only thing on the horizon. "I'm back to writing and recording my next album, which will be out early next year," Gray says. "That one will have no jazz and no covers but will be just as awesome."

In the meantime, listen to "I Try," below.