When Paloma Faith looked out into the audience during her last world tour, she didn’t like what she saw.
“I felt like everybody was just staring at me the whole time, and I felt like they weren’t really enjoying themselves,” said Faith via phone with Glide. ”So I thought I should celebrate life a bit more instead of muttering about it.”
That celebration takes the form of her latest album A Perfect Contradiction, released on October 7th via Epic. The album is already platinum in other parts of the world, and Faith currently sits at number one on the UK charts. However, Faith maintains a relatively low profile in the States that persists despite critical acclaim and high profile appearances on the late night circuit. With A Perfect Contradiction, Faith has her eyes locked on stateside success.
If Paloma Faith were ever to release an album that smashes in the US, it’d be A Perfect Contradiction. Writing the entire album in the U.S. and collaborating with American music mainstays like Pharrell, Diane Warren, and Raphael Saadiq, Faith combines her love for the Great American Songbook with current pop flourishes. All of this comes secondary, of course, to Faith’s incredible voice. It’s exactly the instrument she needs to separate herself from acts that relay on nostalgic elements of 50s music to construct their sound. The result is an addictive blend of girl group harmonies, organic live band elements, and just enough four-to-the-floor to make her audience stop staring and start moving.
“I decided to inject a bit more energy into the sound,” said Faith. “I also met somebody who makes me happy, and got into a relationship. It’s the happiest relationship I’ve ever been in. It was kind of a bit of that hopefulness without losing my realistic attitude towards love that’s the benchmark for the record.”
That realistic attitude shines the brightest on the album’s lead single in America, “Only Love Can Hurt Like This.” The Diane Warren-penned ballad sounds like an instant classic with Paloma stretching her voice to stratospheric heights. It’s the kind of song that could soundtrack the climax of every romance novel. Paloma said working with Warren wasn’t what she expected.
“Every karaoke song ever is written by her, but when I first met her, I didn’t expect her to be the way she is,” explains Faith. “She’s got a potty mouth! But she’s also really confident and ballsy. It’s funny, because she writes such sweet songs.”
Faith experienced similar unexpectedness when she met Pharrell at a party in New York City. She couldn’t believe he knew who she was, let alone that he was singing her songs to her as he gushed over her work. “He said, ‘I think you’re really cool and I want to work with you.’ I was quite surprised he even knew I existed, so I jumped at the chance.” The result is “Can’t Rely On You,” a confident send-off that truly sounds like a collaboration between two artists with distinct sounds.
In addition to keeping her sound fresh, you’ll frequently find Faith shape-shifting her look. Already hailed by many as a fashion icon, Faith celebrates the past through a modern lens. She cites Hollywood glamour and icons like Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, and Marlene Dietrich as primary sources of inspiration. More recently, Faith praises the bold looks of Grace Jones and Björk. The latter two are especially obvious when examining the album cover for A Perfect Contradiction. The striking sleeve features Faith using her love of religious art to visually represent the themes present throughout the record.
“It’s based on the painting by Caravaggio called ‘The Entombment of Christ’,” explains Faith. “The way it’s lit is so dramatic with attention to certain features, like the way the lighting is which implies the pull between heaven and hell. Because [the album] is called A Perfect Contradiction, I thought that was very appropriate. It’s kind of an extreme contrast between light and dark. Also, all the people lifting me in my exposed form are the embodiment of different types of lust that I’ve been exploring whilst writing the album and brainstorming the narratives for the videos. When you watch the videos, like “Can’t Rely On You,” the characters are all introduced. Each video goes into detail about a different character, and you can read more about each character on my website.”
With the sound and visuals on point, all that’s left for Faith is promoting the set stateside and hoping her art resonates with American audiences. She’s confident she can breakthrough, especially given her appreciation and respectful appropriation of American culture.
“It’s really important to me to become globally known, because I think my subject matter is relatable,” says Faith. “I write about the human condition of the universe, matters of the heart. It seems like a very natural transition to focus on the US. I’m very influenced by American music and the new record is influenced by that sound of the past. I enjoy being there, and there’s so much I’ve taken from that culture, like the vintage kind of Hollywood glamour.”
To assist with her efforts, Faith recently began a small US tour. Although the venues are much smaller than the arenas she’s selling out in the UK, Faith is excited to play a very different kind of show.
“With the US tour, I think [the shows] will be quite intimate for me,” Faith exclaimed. “I’ll be playing songs from all three albums, but of course focusing on the new one and other songs that have inspired this album. I enjoy playing live more than any other element of my job.”
It remains to be seen if Paloma will effectively break through the United States’ pop culture consciousness. Still, it’s refreshing to see someone so fearlessly creative enjoy any type of mainstream success, regardless of the continent. A Perfect Contradiction is a master class in transforming love and heartbreak into empowerment. If Paloma Faith continues to produce such quality work, it won’t be long until she has the rest of the world dancing along with her.
