WATCH: Jennifer Hudson Lays Her 'Burden Down' in Haunting New Music Video
Jennifer Hudson is back with a new single that would make Effie White proud.
The Grammy and Oscar-winning artist released the emotional anthem “Burden Down” and its accompanying music video on Tuesday in which she can be seen singing her heart out à la her Dreamgirls days. “Burden Down” follows Hudson’s hit “Remember Me” as the second single off of her highly anticipated fourth album, due out in 2018.
For much of the Sam Lecca-directed clip, Hudson sits at a piano in an all-white ensemble in what looks like an empty warehouse. At the end, she takes it up a notch by stepping away from the piano to sing the chorus in a chilling a capella moment.
“Can I lay this burden down? / Can you take it up for me? / When you run me in the ground that’s the day you will see,” Hudson, 36, sings in the chorus. “For all I’ve done all alone, just for a moment please could I not be strong? / Wish I knew how, how to lay this burden down.”
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Hudson also vents in the second verse of the song: “You keep me asking, you keep taking / And that’s no reciprocation / I shouldn’t have to do this by myself.”
The lyrics could be a reference to the end of her 10-year relationship with her fiancé, David Otunga — with whom she shares 8-year-old son, David Jr. — in November. “They have been in the process of ending their relationship for a number of months,” Hudson’s rep told PEOPLE exclusively at the time.
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Despite the tremendous ups and downs in her personal life, the release of “Burden Down” caps off a big year for Hudson. For her work on The Color Purple Broadway cast recording album, she earned a Grammy in the category of Best Musical Theater Album. She also took her talents to the small screen as a coach on the 13th season of NBC’s The Voice, which airs its finale and crowns a winner next week.