Following the dazzling double-platinum success of her previous five British superstar Paloma Faith is gearing up for another monumental chapter with the release of sixth studio album The Glorification of Sadness via RCA Records, and a new tour. This launches in Reaidng next week with a visit to The Hexagon.
The Glorification of Sadness is more than an album about relationships: it is the celebration of finding your way back after leaving a long-term relationship, being empowered even in your failures and taking responsibility for your own happiness.
It is her most personal album to date, drawing on her own experiences with Paloma acting as the anchor to direct a deeply personal narrative and album.
This is a new Paloma Faith, recharged, empowered and back in control.
Your new album, The Glorification Of Sadness, is such an emotional record and so personal for you after your breakup. Can you envisage how you think you’ll feel touring and performing it?
I don’t know because I’m not telepathic. I guess when I wrote this album, it was very healing and cathartic. But going on to do this promo for it is proving to be a bit more difficult than I anticipated because I’m talking about it all the time, and it is still quite sad.
It’s an interesting one because it healed me in a way, but now it’s making it slow down by just going over and over again. But, hopefully, when I get the songs out, I’ll be like, “This is cathartic and amazing.”
The first track on the album is Sweatpants, a song with lyrics that have a lot of meaning to you and anyone who listens to it.
As that’s the album’s first track, I start by saying, “Nobody’s perfect. At least of all me”, which I think is how I feel about the human condition. And it’s about self-forgiveness, as well. I think it’s a song about being in a relationship, worrying about what the future holds and whether you can be loved with all of you and your transitions.
And with Say My Name, what’s the underlying message you want to get out with that?
That’s just about that feeling – and what it looks like – when you’ve got a big ending.
You’ve done – and been involved in – something that’s affected many people because I’ve also got two kids. It’s about losing your identity to that trauma and feeling like you don’t know who you are anymore.
And just looking in the mirror and saying, “I need to remember who I am”.
The track Let It Ride has more of a positive vibe to it in that it seems you want to move on from what’s happened in your life.
That’s a bit about letting go. I think many people find it difficult to let go of stuff in life and once you learn that, you’ll be in good stead because nobody owes you anything.
Sometimes life can be disappointing, but it’s just about freeing yourself from being defined by your trauma or by the sadness and just moving on. You’ve just got to let it ride.
You’ve just got to work through this feeling of sadness and move on.
And what sort of things are helping you to move on?
It has to do with not trying to distract yourself from your feelings. The last time I was single, I didn’t have children. So, I did a lot of distracting myself. I’d just jump onto another relationship or go out and get drunk, but you can’t really do that when you’ve got children.
And I think it’s about accepting that life will be full of disappointments, and if we make our mistakes, we’ll feel misunderstood.
Accepting that as part of it, but just knowing that time is a good healer. And it takes a lot longer when kids are involved.
It’s been quick for me in the past, but I’m two years in, and I don’t feel healed.
I wanted to mention one more track on the album: Hate When You’re Happy. Was it more a case of where you were emotionally when you wrote it and not so much now?
It goes through the stages of grief. I don’t feel like that anymore. But I think at the time when I wrote that song, I did. I was annoyed that he was doing better than when he was with me.
He seemed happier, like he’s really moved on with his life and stuff. And I was just angry about it. Like, “Why couldn’t you have done that with me?”
For this album, you’ve artists from all genres of music, such as Chase & Status, Kojey Radical, Maverick Sabre, Lapsley, MJ Cole, Fred Cox, Amy Wadge, Liam Bailey and Jaycen Joshua. Was it relatively easy getting them all on board?
I’ve known Liam (Bailey) for a long time, and we’re really good friends, he’s a lot of the reason why this album is what it is because he came in and was like, “Right, my mates upset. I’m gonna just be there, be like a vibe person, introduce you to all these people, and not let you get down in the dumps.”
And basically, he just did that. He introduced me to the Chase & Status guys and convinced everyone that I wasn’t exactly what they thought I was.
I feel a lot of people just thought that I was like this pop princess and that I didn’t have much depth, but Liam was like,” She’s my mate, and she’s really different to what you think!”
And then he made a lot of sales pitching to people. [Laughter]
Because, for some people who don’t know me, there’s quite a big disparity between who I am privately and maybe who I’ve been as a musician in my career.
This album is very much in touch with who I am privately.
And it was because I had Liam in the room because he knows me quite well and knows what I’m like and how I was feeling. Yeah, it was good, actually. I think it was better than him not being there. I think it was helpful to me.
Lastly, when it comes to the new album’s tracklisting, it kind of flows like a story. Your story?
I did the order because… it’s a narrative. It’s sort of ordered in the way that it happened. It was my process.
Paloma Faith launches her UK tour at The Hexagon in Reading on Wednesday, April 3. The event has sold out, but a waiting list is in operation, with tickets costing £45 or £62. Premium tickets cost £111.50, and include an exclusive tour print with custom envelope, pre-signed by Paloma, a set list, and an official premium seat experience laminate and lanyard.
For more details, or to book, log on to: whatsonreading.comor call the box office on: 0118 960 6060.
Carl Marsh
