Stacey Kent’s new album Summer Me, Winter Me wasn’t supposed to happen. There was no grand concept, no elaborate creative process. It was born out of pure fan demand. After years of playing live, Kent noticed a pattern: fans kept asking about certain songs that weren’t on any record. “People would come up to me after shows, asking, ‘Which album has that song you just sang?’” she recalls. “And I’d have to tell them, ‘It’s not on any record.’”
Kent, ever the meticulous planner, started writing down these requested songs, slowly building a list that would eventually become the heart of her new album. “It’s what I call my unofficial requests album,” she says with a laugh. “There was no deliberate plan – it just evolved out of listening to what people wanted to hear.” What started as a seemingly haphazard project turned into a carefully curated collection that feels unexpectedly cohesive.
“I love how it came together organically,” Kent reflects. “Some of these songs go way back, and it felt like visiting old friends when we started recording them.” One of those familiar faces was “Postcard Lovers,” a song that first appeared on her live album Dreamer in Concert over a decade ago. But this wasn’t just a rehash. Kent and her husband, arranger, and longtime collaborator Jim Tomlinson, felt like something about the original version never quite sat right. “There was always an itch about that song,” she says. “We loved it live, but it didn’t feel finished. So Jim went back to it, restructured it, and suddenly it clicked. It was like finding the missing piece.”
One of the most intriguing choices on the album is presenting two versions of the same song, “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (known in English as “If You Go Away”). Kent says this choice wasn’t just a whim but the result of years of fan feedback. “People would debate which version they liked better – the hopeful, sweet take or the darker, desperate one,” she explains. “It became almost comical how passionate people were about it. So we decided to put both versions on the album – one that feels almost resigned to fate and another that’s heartbreakingly desolate. I wanted people to feel that contrast.”
Kent also finds herself drawn to waltz time – something she says has an irresistible emotional pull. “There’s something about the three-four meter that feels like a dance between melancholy and hope,” she muses. “It’s like a wave that carries you up and then lets you fall, and I think people feel that instinctively, whether they realize it or not.” Tracks like “Postcard Lovers” and “If You Go Away” make the most of that rhythmic sway, giving the album a distinct ebb and flow.
For Kent, the beauty of live performance has always been in its ephemerality – the way a song appears, fills the space, and then vanishes, leaving only a memory behind. Recording those live staples, however, brought a different kind of permanence to the tracks. “It was strange to make these songs concrete after years of them being fleeting moments on stage,” she admits. “But the goal wasn’t to replicate the live feeling – it was to capture that same sense of intimacy and connection, just in a different way.”
That connection became especially vivid during her recent tour, when one fan shared a particularly moving story. The woman, who had been through a painful divorce, recounted how one of Kent’s albums had accompanied her on a solo trip through Asia, becoming both her heartbreak and her salvation. “She said, ‘You were my heartbreak and my light,’ and I got choked up,” Kent recalls. “It was like this perfect example of why I make music – to be that companion when someone needs it most. It’s not about being a star or selling records – it’s about creating something that makes people feel understood.”
Throughout Summer Me, Winter Me, Kent’s intricate vocals and Jim’s carefully crafted arrangements breathe new life into each track, blending nostalgic familiarity with newfound depth. The album might feel like a collection of disparate pieces, but in reality, it’s a beautifully unified expression of where Kent is now – both as an artist and as a person who’s still growing, still searching. “It’s a little time capsule of how these songs have evolved,” she says. “And maybe how I’ve evolved with them.”
It’s that evolution that makes Summer Me, Winter Me feel more than just a compilation – it’s a reflection of a journey, shaped by fans, memories, and the unexpected ways that music can touch a life. “I just wanted to make something human, something real,” she says, smiling. “And if it means something to someone out there, then it’s all worth it.”
Watch the full interview above and then check out the video below.
