Another good track. Is this even listed on NMF i couldn't see it
Confession which I found semi-not listenable.
Promoted to B-list on Radio 2 this week
She got around 9k streams in the past week, taking her up to 71k total.
She was, by her own admission, never a boundary-pushing artist. (“People would send songs in for me to record, I’d turn up at the studio at a specific time, then leave when the record was done – you just made music to sell.”) But she was a very good one: a fantastic dancer, with a beautiful face and a rich, soulful voice. That last point, she thinks, gets overlooked too. “I still have people say to me, ‘I didn’t realise you could sing like that’, and it’s like… I’m on my fifth album!”
There was talk in 2023 of an Eternal reunion – the group’s original line-up had more or less disbanded by 2000 – but it reportedly fell apart after the Bennetts told Louise and Bryan that they didn’t want to perform at Pride events. “There are some non-negotiables in my world,” Louise says, firmly. “The queer community has stuck by me from day one. I wouldn’t have a music career without them, and they have held me up at my darkest moments. I respect that you have your beliefs and that’s where you stand in your life – but that doesn’t mean it has to be my life. I have my path, they have their path. For me, it wasn’t a hard decision to make.”
Her new album Confessions, which is released in May, is a summery and sensual collection of nu-disco, dance-pop and funk, with production by Jon Shave, who co-wrote and produced a few tracks on last year’s Charli XCX behemoth Brat, including the standout insecurity anthem “Sympathy Is a Knife”. “I was really adamant about making a progressive album,” she explains. “I don’t want to be a nostalgia act, and I wouldn’t carry on making music and gigging if that’s all I was doing.” Indeed, it’s a great record. Single “Love Me More”, which came out on Friday, veers from swooning love song to punchy kiss-off to a spectacular mess of enveloping synths. “Only Dancer” has shades of Body Talk-era Robyn, Louise pining over a sparse synth bassline. The slinky and dramatic “Confession” is all strobe lights and whispered vocals. “Get Into It” is a punchy slice of new jack swing, swaddled in moans of ecstasy. “I got a text from Jon asking, ‘Are there too many sex noises on this?’. And I was like, ‘Jon, there can never be too many sex noises!’.”
She talks about Confessions in a way that feels slightly unusual, as if she knows that people aren’t necessarily expecting it to be so good. When she brought the album to one of the heads of record label Absolute, in the hopes of getting their help in distribution and marketing, it was listened to only as a courtesy. “Then he phoned up my manager saying, ‘I am blown away by where this album is sitting – it’s modern, it’s current, it’s honest’.” She smiles. “I’ve had a lot of feedback like that. And I do understand it. I’ve always kept in my lane, done what people expected. Now I’m saying, ‘f*** it!’”
Louise released an album in January 2020, called Heavy Love, but its promotion and tour were curtailed by Covid, leaving Confessions to feel like her proper return to music. She wants it to do well but adds that she’s a realist about it. “It’s a good time to be making music because you’ve got your Kylies and…” She pauses, as if suddenly aware that it’s tricky to think of another woman in her fifties making hit pop songs. “See, I’m of two minds about this. I think you’ve got to be the lucky one – there’s no general rule of thumb. There are certain radio stations, regardless of the song, that will not play you because you’re of a certain age. I’ve made a record produced by someone who’s just won a Grammy – there is something current there.” She shrugs. “But all I can do is try and break down those walls, and definitely 10 years ago that would have been unthinkable.”
Her new album Confessions, which is released in May, is a summery and sensual collection of nu-disco, dance-pop and funk
I wish there was any realistic way for this record to connect with a broader audience. She’s really put the work in and delivered, it’s such a shame there’s virtually no outlet for her to gain exposure for it beyond Radio 2.
TV promo opportunities are so limited nowadays, but I am forever grateful for the middle aged gay playlisting mafia at Radio 2.