On the occasion of our 1940s survey, we’ve asked Siri Vik to revisit her 2013 tribute to one of the greats. “Our tribute to Billie Holiday,” Siri writes, “celebrates her musical genius and her originality–the strength and nerve with which she could always find her truth inside a song, and the way she could fully listen to and engage with the music around her while she sang. Simple yet sophisticated, Holiday’s singing is never quite dramatic or sentimental, rather her unsentimental delivery makes the heartbreak, solitude, indignation, or strength of a song lyric come to life with devastating clarity.”