Legendary UK singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading has announced her 21st studio album, How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean, will be released on November 22 via BMG.
Armatrading describes the new album as, "observational, and yes, very direct." The artist has always experimented with different genres including rock, jazz, and blues, but the new project will not be the heavy metal album she hinted at making back in 2020: “I always tell myself, ‘One day I’ll make a heavy metal album.’ With lots of guitar shredding! And I will.”
The first single from the new album, “I'm Not Moving,” was inspired by an encounter she had with a young person engaged in "alarmingly confrontational" public behavior.
Armatrading shared, "Sometimes, a song just writes itself. I was in the middle of witnessing some intense behaviour from a young person shouting, “I’m going to kill everybody! I’m not moving! You can get the police! You can’t move me!” The words flowed instantly, and I knew the song had to capture that same aggression he was showing. I tried a milder version, but it just wasn’t right, it had to have the aggression."
Explaining the album’s title, Armatrading says: “You can apply it to just about anything, 'How did this happen and what does it now mean?' We are in such a weird place at the moment, and you do think, how did this happen?"
“Some of the things we're going through, and some of the things we can say and can't say, and can and can't do – how on earth do we get to this place, and what does it now mean? Where are we going to go now? It applies to all kinds of things. It's like asking a question that you can't answer."
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