Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Keeping the Faith isn’t that easy for Paloma despite the Invinite Things she has achieved
London-born singer-songwriter may be awaiting the release of her fifth album but she’s not taking success for granted
Paloma Faith has never been afraid to throw the cat amongst the pigeons – which is somewhat ironic seeing as her name i n Spanish actually means Pigeon or Dove (yes, the symbol of peace).
And she may not be Free As A Bird with London in lockdown mode yet again, but it’s easy to imagine Paloma will be just like an antsy Homing pigeon cooing with delight if her new record Infinite Things really takes off in the charts when released next week.
All things considered, the new album should be a runaway success seeing as her previous effort, The Architect, skyrocketed to number one in 2017.
So it’s surprising to hear how this (lockdown-imposed) home bird – whose first album cover’s illustration had her posing with two doves – is fearful her flying form might suddenly nosedive.
“I never expected to be in this situation, but the thing that keeps me going is I don’t expect it to last. I always feel like I ’m starting from scratch,” she said in this exclusive interview with the Irish Daily Mirror.
“So, I’m talking to you now almost feeling like I’m a new artist and not someone with five albums under their belt, in an age where everything feels unstable.
“I feel like, ‘ Yeah, what I’ve done so far has exceeded my expectations’. But there’s always time to fall!”
But Paloma should just keep telling herself that she’s – like the title of the first single taken from the new album – Better Than This. As Bon Jovi sings, she should Keep The Faith about it hopefully going – just like the title of her latest chart release – Gold.
Paloma’s own personal favourite tune on the album is called If This Is Goodbye, which is certainly a fitting song title with the world in freefall since COVID-19 reared it ugly head.
“It’s about loving someone a lot who you’re not sure whether they are going to be around much longer,” she explained.
“And I think that is something that a lot of people talk about – mortality – because we’re in a pandemic. So, a lot of people have lost loved ones and a lot of people are worried they may lose loved ones.”
Paloma was actually estranged herself from her Spanish-born father Ramon Bloomfield for many years but decided to reach out to him recently.
“I wouldn’t call it a drift (apart) – it was caused by things, which I’d rather not s a y. B u t , y e a h , I decided i t wa sn’ t healthy,” she said.
“I do speak to him a bit now because of the pandemic. I don’t really want to get that phone call and be like, ‘Oh whoops!’ But I have set the boundaries.”
Growing up in Stoke Newington in east London, the now 39-year-old Paloma’s parents – both from Norfolk where they first met – split up when she was only two years old.
“It seems pretty standard in London. I feel like the ones whose parents were together were the odd ones out when I was growing up,” she said, laughing.
Paloma had a “good relationship” with her father during her childhood and he would even take her to Spain on summer holidays. Does she feel the separation – and the subsequent rift with her father – somehow strengthened the bond with her mother?
“I think that’s really what my view on separation and kids is like, it boils down to how parents are with you. And my mum was pretty exceptional and amazing. And so I would have had that bond with her whether they were together or not, I think,” she reflected.
“But yes, she was a really great role model because, well, both my parents actually were workaholics, which is why I don’t really understand or know how to be any other way.
“They were both quite obsessed with their careers. So it seemed very normal to me to become the same. It wa sn’ t s o methi n g th a t wa s a conscious decision.”
Paloma herself is now pregnant with her second child – both being conceived via IVF. Asked if it’s an exciting time being pregnant, she candidly stated: “It’s actually quite uncomfortable and painful.”
After then pausing to laugh, Paloma admitted that the “only reason” she is going through with a second pregnancy is in order for her daughter to have a little brother or sister.
“It was very difficult to have babies,” she continued. “And it was a bit of a journey. It started off with some fertility problems with my partner and that’s why we couldn’t have a baby without science.
“Then the ( first) birth I had was really, really bad and lots of things went wrong and my body was sort of irreparably damaged. And then I was diagnosed with secondary infertility, which is basically infertility caused by a previous birth.
“So then we had to have more science again . I haven’t actually conceived a baby before – I just had various different types of fertility treatment.
“So it was a bit difficult and I’ve had losses as well and stuff. I had one ectopic and one miscarriage.
And I’m happy to talk about it because it’s important to culturally burst the bubble of silence and secrecy that previous generations upheld.
“I asked my mum why she never told me how difficult it all was and she said, ‘Because you never would do it and I wanted a grandchild!’”
She added: “I think it’s important to talk about these things and almost to normalise them because not everything is easy.”
Paloma sounds very much like a glass half-full type of person – is that as a result of having gone to therapy herself ?
“I think I’ve always been that way and positive about the future. But therapy sort of helped with self-doubt and stuff. All it does really is remind you that everyone has got it, even if they pretend not to. So you feel reassured,” she explained.
I feel like, ‘Yeah, what I’ve done so far has exceeded my expectations.
“But I ’ve always been optimistic. I like life in all of its manifestations and you can’t sort of deny the negative and only want the positive. That’s not life.”
Asked what originally prompted her to go and see a therapist, she told me: “I wanted to have a relationship that lasted long enough to have a family.”
Was it love at first sight when she met her partner, French arti st Leyman Lahcine?
“Yes it was. And I’m a massive cynic and don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do with him,” she said.
Paloma – who had been briefly married for only eight months back in 2005 – had convinced herself that true romance was going to pass her by, before falling head over heels for
MAKING A RACKET Wimbledon Foundation appearance in 2019
Leyman in 2013.
“I felt like I wasn’t put on this earth to have a big love. I just felt that I was put on this earth to do other things, most of which are around my career, like bringing people together… I felt happy or made peace with that was what I was put here to do,” she said.
“I just didn’t believe that ( falling in love) would happen to me, or that I was capable of it really. But I was. And it took me by surprise because I never expected that.
“And I did sort of have this feeling of, well, I decided when I first met Leyman, on the first night, that it would never work. So I really tried to make it not happen, I think, subconsciously, because I was sort of like, ‘This isn’t real!’ But it is.”
You can forget about a little birdie telling us Paloma’s due date because she is keeping schtum on the topic.
But it’s safe to say her second pregnancy is certainly in full flight judging by the bump now on display.
Seeing as she suffered from Postnatal depression after her first child was born in December 2016, it must be a big concern this time around too?
“Yeah, I am sort of expecting it because I know what the signs are and how I felt. And I’m trying to make changes that are important to sort of pad myself up a bit and not be so hard on myself,” she said.
“The reason why it was so bad for me the first time is something that all mothers experience, which is the pull between here you are as an individual and here you are expecting yourself to be as a parent. And quite often those things run into conflict because you want to be the best parent you can, but you’d be miserable if you gave up yourself.
“So you have to keep yourself happy and to keep yourself happy quite often you have to pull away from your child and those things are ver y conflicting and it leads you to feeling not very good at either thing. So that’s where my depression stemmed from myself.
“But I’m really trying to understand and believe now… because people always comment that my kid’s really nice and kind and well-mannered – so it’s like, ‘I’m OK at this, actually,
I’m quite good at this!’
“So I ’m trying to let myself off the hook a bit and
I’m also trying to maintain my own
EARLY DAYS March 27, 2007