Tomorrow is the big day! Deeper is released and the tour starts. Exciting times!
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She could almost be described as the leader of the X Factor generation after she was given a record contract on Search For A Star in 1980. And after soaring to pop stardom throughout the decades that followed, Lisa Stansfield is back again with a new album. The singer, 51, was seen at ITV studios in London on Thursday, where she was promoting her musical comeback. The All Around The World songstress looked youthful as she stepped out with her trademark cropped 'do. She wore her raven locks in a slicked back style as she grinned and waved on exiting the central London building. Lisa dressed her tiny frame in a black top and wide slacks, which she covered with a ruffled black leather jacket. The Live Together singer wore a gentle wash of pale make-up, adding a pop of rouge to her cheeks and a dab of darkness above her eyes. She looked to be in great spirits as she headed out of the studios, likely due to the fact that her latest album is set to drop on Friday. Deeper - her first new record in four years - also launches the singer's UK tour. In a recent chat with the Lancashire Telegraph, the singer exclaimed: 'I’m so excited about everything right now. It’s like I’m really going for it - there’s no stopping me.' Lisa serves as an executive producer on Deeper and co-wrote it with her husband Ian Devaney. After finding fame in 1980, she was in band Blue Zone with him, but they disbanded after moderate success. Lisa released her first solo album, Affection, in 1989, which saw her nominated for two Grammy awards, mostly thanks to her single All Around The World. Her last release was 2014's Seven - her seventh album and the first in ten years after releasing 2004's The Moment. The new album - which Lisa described the process of making as 'like solving a Rubik’s cube. You’ve got all the ingredients, you just have to put them all in the right places' - blends funk and soul and is led with the single Billionaire, which was released at the end of February. The singer is optimistic about the new album, saying of the project: 'I think this album might just have legs.' By ANDREW BULLOCK FOR MAILONLINE Lisa Stansfield: I'm scared they will throw rotten tomatoes at me as I have not been back in 30 years
The UK's biggest soul star of the 90s, Lisa Stansfield, is back with a new album. Ahead of its release, she airs her concerns about everything from the X Factor to #MeToo, and reveals a fear of being greeted by rotten fruit when she plays Liverpool next month. There's video footage somewhere of a young up-and-coming Lisa Stansfield doing forward rolls through a Paris airport while she was being interviewed by what one can only imagine was a bewildered journalist. That's according to her anyway. The video seems not to have made its way online but, given the energy of the woman sitting across the table, it's quite believable. The 51-year-old (Lisa turns 52 on April 11) is here to talk about her new record, Deeper. Announcing the album, the soul singer said she believed there was "something special" about it - but she's struggling to explain what exactly that is. "I can't put my finger on it, there's an excitement, an energy to it. If I knew I'd put it on every f****** record," she says in her broad Lancashire accent with vowels as flat as the black cap she has pulled over forehead. She sips her coke and cackles at her own joke. Stansfield returned from a 10-year break in 2014 with Seven, which shot into the top 20 and drew a sell-out European tour. Before that, of course, was number one hit All Around The World, 20 million records sold, and an array of trophies including Brits and Ivor Novellos. Deeper was, like its predecessors, created alongside her music partner and husband of 30 years, Ian Devaney. Full of funk and soul, Stansfield envisions it as perfect music before a night out. "I think it captures that moment when you're getting ready to go out on a Friday night," she says. "You get your music on and then you face the night." The couple spent 14 years in Ireland but they moved back to England in 2008 after her mother died and Devaney's fell ill. They now live between Rochdale and London but miss Ireland, she admits. "We felt so alienated when something serious was happening and we were in Ireland." The album's release is followed by a UK tour - including one important date in particular for Stansfield which will see her career go almost full circle. "I'm really looking forward to playing Liverpool because we've not played it since the very first gig that I did as Lisa Stansfield," she says. "I'll be a bit scared actually, are they going to throw rotten tomatoes at me because I've not been back in 30 years," she adds with a laugh. It's 38 years since she won the Search For A Star competition. But you'd never find her encouraging anyone to take part in their modern televised equivalents. "I don't think I'd go on the X Factor or The Voice," she says adamantly. "Unless you know exactly what you're going to do and you're very strong as an individual, you can get so lost on it," she adds. "If you're on a show like that when you're 23, 24 or younger, if you don't succeed but you have that period of a few months or weeks when you're on TV all the time, that will define the rest of your life. "You'll get thrown to the wayside and everyone will go, you're the one who was on X Factor eight million years ago. That can send people barmy." She's also concerned about musical tastes of the youth. They're not "f****** up" enough, she says. Normally, she adds, it's the kids who are forced to listen to their parents' boring music, but Stansfield thinks it has now reversed. "Kids have got so much responsibility now," she says. "They're being born into a lifetime of debt and they've not even started. So they have to really learn to be sensible which is horrible. As a teenager, you're being told, 'Your f****** life is going to be s****. You're never going to have a mortgage'." It's not exactly an earth-shattering opinion - but that's not Stansfield's game. She's not one inclined to agree with the consensus but wouldn't shock for the sake of it. Her opinions are her own. And more intriguing are her views on Harvey Weinstein's alleged behaviour and the #MeToo movement it gave momentum to. "I think women have to be very careful," she says - describing the revelations as a "bandwagon" which she believes is attracting a minority of people who are speaking out for attention and to "whip up the f****** frenzy". "They're completely trivialising the whole thing," she continues. "Women have worked for years to be taken seriously and a handful of women are trivialising it for everybody else. "I think it's disgraceful for an issue which is so serious for some people to trivialise it." It's a difficult point to prove and, in drawing attention away from the main message of #MeToo, might somewhat veer in the direction of hypocrisy. She's no less sympathetic when I ask her why she thinks only 17 of 84 winners at this year's Grammys were women. "I just think that's because (of) what's going on at the time. "Next year the whole chart might be overrun by female artists, for me that's just the luck of the draw." She does agree the world is in flux, however. "It's f****** weird at the moment, isn't it? "But I think you've always got to be an optimist though, the world is just deciding what to do. "It's like going to the cinema and trying to find a seat, the world hasn't found its seat." Deeper is out tomorrow. Lisa Stansfield is touring the UK this month Belfast Telegraph Listen back to BBC Manchesters' presenter Becky Want with Lisa about her new album, Deeper , friendships and much much more! Wondering what the new album is like??? Wonder no more....here is a preview of all the songs from "Deeper",... Enjoy! 2 more days to go to it's release! German TV MOMA had a little preview of Lisa's forthcoming album Deeper today. Unfortunately due to a cold , Lisa was unable to travel to Germany for the interview, hence she stayed at home taking care of her throat whilst drinking rather horrible drinks. Lisa, we're all wishing you a very quick recovery and hopefully you'll be 'tour ready' for Friday! Now, four years after her last, Stansfield is back with the follow-up. Slated for release on April 6, 2018, on earMUSIC, Stansfield’s eighth effort begins with the album’s carrier single – the Dance Pop mid-tempo “Everything,” whose boom-bass and glittery vibes take the listener back to the Heatwave ’90s. This is followed in the same beat and rhythm of the horn-adorned and string-orchestrated “Twisted.” “Desire” then softly simmers next with its piano-led prelude, only to warm up into driving mode with its subtle and ambient Trip-Hop excursion. The ensuing “Billionaire” – the album’s first single – is oozing with Pop sensibilities and exuding echoes of something sentimental and nostalgic. The smooth groove gives way to the sexy Sophisti-Pop sway of “Coming Up for Air.” Stansfield then lures the listener to the dim-lit corner of the discothèque’s lounge area as she unleashes “Love of My Life” in an enthralling vocal swagger. With “Never Ever,” the bouncy bass and sparse orchestration take centerstage, effectively complementing Stansfield’s voice that floats confidently midair. “Hercules” is a change of style and pace – funky and choppy – reverberating faint traces of George Michael’s “Faith.” In this song, Stansfield says she was Hercules; well, you just gotta have faith, in her! The charismatic singer finally breaks the Dance Pop vibrations with the piano ballad “Hole in My Heart,” transforming the Disco atmosphere into something conducive to couples who feel like merging their bodies into one. Stansfield’s foray into heartrending balladry continues with “Just Can’t Help Myself.” The title track then returns the listener to Light Jazz mode. The penultimate track, “Butterflies” is another funky affair, with scathing guitars that will remind the initiated of Prince’s “Kiss.” Finally, Stansfield wraps up her latest offering in the same sophisticated Funk-Jazz-Pop combo, in the form of “Ghetto Heaven,” ultimately transcending the satisfied listener to her early ’90s of yore. Nostalgia heaven, indeed! Stansfield and her music have come so far, all around the world – certainly not in 80 days but definitely after all the years of the hard work, resilience, passion, and collaborative efforts of Stansfield and her ever-dependable songwriting and production team whom includes her former bandmate, long-time collaborator, and eventual real-life partner, husband Devaney. That is why CrypticRock gives Deeper 4 out of 5 stars. Review by: aLfie vera mella for Cryptic Rock, Lisa shares her thoughts about touring and what really matters when she sings her older songs on stage. |
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