Zooey Deschanel and M Ward return as She & Him to release two new songs for a project that aims to create “same-sex wedding anthems”.

‘Universal Love’ launched earlier this month with an album that featured the likes of Dylan, St Vincent, Kesha, Bloc Party‘s Kele Okereke, Death Cab For Cutie‘s Ben Gibbard and Valerie June covering classic tracks, but altered for the LGBTQ community.

Now, She & Him have unveiled the first original songs for the project with ‘She Gives Her Love To Me’ and ‘He Gives His Love To Me’.


“We have always believed that love belongs to everyone – so love songs should too,” She & Him told Rolling Stone. “What drew us to this project is that it opens up new ways of thinking about songwriting.

“It would be amazing if our songs help to inspire other artists to engage with lyrics in a more open, and inclusive way.”

Executive producer Rob Kaplan said Dylan was quick to agree to the ‘Universal Love’ project: “It wasn’t just ‘yes, I’ll do this’. It was ‘hey, I have an idea for a song.’”

“If you look at the history of pop music, love songs have predominantly come from one heterosexual perspective,” co-producer Tom Murphy told The New York Times. “If we view music as something that brings people together, shouldn’t these popular songs be open to everyone?”


Check out Bob Dylan’s ‘He’s Funny That Way’ and the previous ‘Universal Love’ album here.

This is the duo’s first release since 2016’s festival covers album ‘Christmas Party’, and their first original material since 2014’s ‘Classics’.

These followed on from 2014’s ‘Volume 3’, 2010’s ‘Volume Two’ and 2008 debut, ‘Volume One’. The pair also released festive album ‘A Very She And Him Christmas’ in 2011.