Paloma Faith To Release New Album in America October 7th

Epic Records announced on Monday, the upcoming U.S. release of British soul/pop singer (and Music Is My King Size Bed darling) Paloma Faith. Now, obviously I am happy about this. One of the last posts I wrote pre-hiatus was me speculating about Paloma’s new album. Hell, my FIRST post back was a teaser of a new music video (“Trouble With My Baby,” which wound up coming out last week). To say that I’m excited about the American release of A Perfect Contradiction on October 7th would be the understatement of the century.

Preceding the album’s release in the Fall, Paloma will release the first U.S. single, stunning retro-pop ballad “Only Love Can Hurt Like This,” penned by Grammy-winning songwriter (and foul-mouthed national treasure) Diane Warren on July 15th. The single impacts Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary Radio on July 14th, so for those of you that listen to the radio (anyone?) get those dialing fingers ready to call and request it!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKr9gWqwl4]

Now, if I’m honest…one of the reasons why I was so eager to get back to blogging – Paloma Faith. It’s no secret that I STAN hardcore for this red-haired former magicians assistant.  While I would have loved to cover the initial UK release of A Perfect Contradiction, I’m beyond thrilled to have the blog back up and running in time for the album’s stateside debut.

When ‘Contradiction‘ was released in the UK back in March, it landed in the #2 spot, matching the peak chart position of her previous release, the Nellee Hooper-produced Fall To Grace. The album has been a fixture in Official Charts Top 10 since it’s release with sales showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, A Perfect Contradiction is the UK’s third biggest selling album of 2014 so far! That’s massive!

Singles wise, “Can’t Rely On You,” the Pharrell Williams produced lead single in the UK landed at a solid #10 on the UK Singles Chart following it’s release this past February. Follow up single, the Motown-inspired pop ballad (and first U.S. single) “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” was released in May, and eventually peaked at an impressive #6 on the chart, becoming Faith’s biggest hometown hit to date, besting the #7 peak chart high of “Picking Up The Pieces” from Fall To Grace. The video for the song (SEE ABOVE) has already surpassed 3 million views on VEVO, earning praise from Paloma’s contemporaries, Adele and Jessie J.

Oh @palomafaith! Your so perfect I love you and this so much http://t.co/8Dhaz5g8Q6

— Adele (@OfficialAdele) May 23, 2014

It’s interesting to me how an up-tempo (albeit slightly generic) Pharrell-produced number released as single numero Uno maxed out at #10 while a big, emotional ballad peaked 4 notches above…not complaining at all. Just interesting. One would think that Pharrell, given his magic touch lately, would have propelled “Can’t Rely On You” a bit farther (I mean…I’m assuming that’s why it was selected as the lead single?). Anyway…

Paloma is prepping to release her next UK single, yet another one of A Perfect Contradiction‘s Motown-flavored tunes, this one more up-tempo. The song was co-penned by Faith along with Andrea Martin and Steve Robson, with the latter also serving as producer. Faith premiered the Paul Gore-directed video late last week, which has already amassed over 100K views (SEE BELOW).

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXrUOXxiGjw]

The new record features collaborations with a variety of talent including Pharrell (who introduced himself at last year’s Met Gala!), John Legend, Raphael Saadiq, Diane Warren (who wrote “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” specifically for Paloma!), Plan B, Stewart Matthewman and Mr. Hudson. While there are some slow songs on ‘Contradiction,’ the album does mark a shift away from the sad and dreary sounds heard on Fall To Grace. According to Faith,

“Its tone is the very opposite of what the last album was. There are a couple of melancholy moments, sure, but it’s much more a ‘if it’s all gone to shit, fuck it, let’s have a dance’ kind of record.”

Faith penned much of the new record while living here in New York last year, recording in NYC, Miami, Los Angeles and London.

“I’ve been reflecting on things that have been tough, but I’m almost celebrating that,” says Paloma. “If you haven’t been to the bottom, you wouldn’t be able to recognise how it feels to feel really amazing, after all.”

No word yet on a U.S. tour just yet, but I imagine she’ll make her way back across the pond between UK tours. She’s currently playing the UK festival circuit through July before kicking off her Fall UK Tour September 5th at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Watch this space for more Paloma Faith news! Happy to have you back here in the States!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imi9Smkt_cI]

Check out Paloma Faith on the web:

Official Site || Facebook || Twitter || VEVO || Instagram