Not going down without a fight
Paloma Faith
The Glorification Of Sadness
Breaking up, as Neil Sedaka told us, is hard to do, but it’s also been the catalyst for a tremendous treasure trove of songs.
When Paloma Faith split up with her husband, Leyman Lahcine, the father of her two daughters, she could have given in to despondency and gloom.
Instead, she channelled her conflicting emotions into this cathartic 18-track album packed with attitude.
Titles like How You Leave A Man, Divorce and Eat S*** And Die tell us clearly that Paloma isn’t going down without a fight.
But there is humour and selfawareness here too.
“Nobody’s perfect, and least of all me,” she sings on the anthemic opening ballad Sweatpants, before going down the Beatles’ When I’m 64 route.
“Will you still love me with my heels off?” she asks. “When I’m crazy and undone, when I’ve got my sweatpants on?”
In part bombastic and theatrical, Faith’s sixth album occasionally seems to be laid on thicker than Gwen Stefani’s make-up. But strong tunes more than compensate.
Eat S*** opens like vintage 1960s pop. Cry On The Dance Floor is pure escapist dance fun, while Let It Ride is a defiant, guitar-blazing rock anthem.
“I gotta leave you behind,” she sings. “I’m not afraid of goodbyes.”
How You Leave A Man is an instant banger, uplifting and contagious.
The gulf between Faith’s fullbodied vocals and her sweetly spoken villainous character Bet Sykes in Batman spin-off Pennyworth is large enough to park the Batmobile in.
She isn’t afraid to show her vulnerability. On I Am Enough she seems to be trying to convince herself the title is true.
From the soulful rap of Pressure (featuring Kojey Radical) to the gospely ballad Bad Woman, this is honest, grounded, and invigorating.
And there’s still her book, MILF, to come.