- 2023-08-30
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MUSIC
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Zak Abel Releases New Album “Love Over Fear”
British singer-songwriter Zak Abel released his highly-anticipated sophomore album “Love Over Fear” on August 25, 2023 via BMG.
It is his first album in six years since 2017 debut album “Only When We're Naked”.
The album comprises 12-track, produced by Brendan Grieve, Duvall, Eg White, Jamie Hartman, Leo Abrahams, Liam Dowell and Sam Frank.
After the release of the debut album, Zak Abel made the new album coping with severe hearing loss, and struggling to leave from a major label deal.
Zak Abel told Headliner Radio about his hearing loss and leaving major label in an interview, “It's called Otosclerosis and it's essentially the hardening and overgrowing of the stapes bone in the ear and it means that as the bone becomes more brittle in the ear it vibrates less and less. Essentially, it's progressive hearing loss. I lost my hearing in my right ear and had an operation on it to restore some of the hearing.”
He continued, “I was very slowly dropped by Atlantic about two years after the release of my first album, and it took about a year for me to be released from that deal. I then signed for Universal in Germany and US as a joint venture. Then the pandemic hit about a month after signing and suddenly everyone has to wait due to the pandemic. During that time, my A&R in the US leaves, my A&R in Germany leaves, and I'm left signed with this massive corporation with no one moving it forward. So, I then signed to BMG with almost the same album to put out.”- Zak Abel said of the album, “When I think about this album, there is the fear that no-one is going to like it, the fear that I could have done better, the fear that maybe I should have gone in a different direction. And also that, because I've put so much of myself into this album, it means that if someone doesn't like it, it means they truly don't like me, because this album is the truest reflection of who I am.”
He continued, “I also had a lot of fear around discussing certain subject matters, such as on 'Let Me Sing'. It can be really uncomfortable and scary to open up about parts of yourself and your life that have been genuinely traumatic.”
He added, “For a long time, I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to make music anymore. However, at the same time, I'm proud that I decided to be vulnerable, to be brave about the things that I find uncomfortable to talk about, and talk about them anyway. I've made exactly the album that I've wanted to make for such a long time, and I love myself for that. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to create an album, and to continue doing what I love, making music.” -
Zak Abel explained about some tracks for the Album.
“Woman”
“Woman is a tribute to a woman I love. She has been an anchor that's kept me grounded, a North Star to aspire towards, and a mirror to show me when I'm on the wrong path! She's been there through all my ups and downs. Put simply, life is a lot richer with her by my side. I hope this resonates with those who have amazing women in their lives too.”
“What Love Is”
“This song is about trying, even if you've been hurt before. Putting yourself out there to try and find love, whatever that means for you. If you've been hurt in love, this song is for you.”
“Dance With You (The Comeback)”
“I wrote this with the legend Tom Misch as lockdown was just lifting. It's kind of an ode to the freedom that I feel when I'm dancing and letting loose. I really missed that in lockdown and wanted to return to that feeling.”
“How Do We Stay in Love?”
“So many songs talk about relationships through rose-tinted glasses, but the truth about love is that it's not always easy, and it takes both you and your partner to continue to grow together and find ways to keep your love burning as brightly as it did when you first got together. That's why I wrote a song about how important it is to nurture your relationship after the honeymoon phase has ended.I really hope you can relate, and I hope you like it.”
“Cry”
“So I was thinking about how the opposite of happiness isn't in my opinion, isn't sadness, it's numbness. And a friend of mine was going through a really, really difficult time and he was feeling really numb, he just wasn't feeling anything at all. And I was like Okay, I feel like the most compassionate thing I could do for my friend at this point is to make him cry, which seemed like a really weird thought, like you never want to say, I want to make you cry from, that seems like quite a spiteful thing. And I thought it would be interesting to write a song to say I want to make you cry from a compassionate point of view. Basically, I just wanted him to feel something. Because that, that to me was the first step in kind of him starting feel better. And so I really wanted to put that down in a song and I did.”
“Deserve To Be Loved”
“For various reasons I grew up with a distorted view of love and self-esteem, and that lends itself to whether you feel worthy of love. For a long time I didn't think I was worthy, and that can make you feel very alone in the world. And that's how I was feeling that day when I went into the studio to write, which is why the song is so raw.”
- source : Apple Music
