Lucy Spraggan sounds grown up on new album We Are
Lucy Spraggan participated in the X Factor UK in 2012 and she was one of those artists that completely blew everyone away at the auditions. Spraggan performed her own song ‘Last Night (Beer Fear)’ about waking up after a night of a little too much partying and her performance went viral with over 33 million viewers on YouTube. She had to leave the competition due to illness, but came back with the album Join The Club in 2013. This week, she released her third record called We Are and the growth she shows is impressive.
From the moment she auditioned, it was clear that Lucy has a distinctive and recognizable way of songwriting. Her tracks usually tell quite clear and often personal stories and this hasn’t changed on We Are. Every song is still very much in a style you would expect from Spraggan, but at the same time it is not hard to hear that she developed herself musically and sounds like a full grown artist now. This is something that immediately became clear when the first single ‘Unsinkable‘ was released. This emotive song about not willing to give up what you believe in, based on piano and synths, comes across as a mature singer-songwriter pop song by an artist that knows exactly what she wants.
The rest of the album is full of beautiful stories and strong lyrics, maybe not as careless and fun as ‘Last Night (Beer Fear)’, but definitely worth close listens. Take for example the song ‘The Postman’, about a couple that is dealing with a war where he has to go out and fight and she waits for his letters. A moving story, convincingly performed by Lucy. ‘London Bound’ is somewhat more uptempo and deals with her moving to London to pursue a career, but having a tough time to find her place in the big city. Also one of the highlights is ‘Until I’ve Lived My Life’ that discusses life choices and the feeling you want to have really lived before you die. Of course we come across very personal tracks about Spraggan’s love life as well, like the honest and questioning ‘I Don’t Know’. Last but not least, the album finishes with a goosebumps inspiring, touching story called ‘Paper Cuts’. Lucy Spraggan delivers an impressively grown up third album that is worth a close listen!