English singer-songwriter and producer Shura shared her latest album ‘I Got Too Sad For My Friends’ on 30 May, releasing 11 personal tracks around isolation, sadness and joy.
The artist has crafted her vulnerable synth-pop sound with previous albums ‘Nothing’s Real’ in 2016 and ‘Forevher’ in 2019. With ‘I Got Too Sad For My Friends’, she gave little away prior to its release with minimal captions on new ominous posts after wiping her Instagram clean. The artist gave clues to the themes of the album as she posed in numerous posts in a medieval knight costume.
Shura has continued this medieval narrative throughout the singles released in the run-up to the album, the most popular being the recent hit ‘World’s Worst Girlfriend’.
Shura has spoken about the lengthy process of the album, sharing with Dork Magazine that “it’s the longest I’ve lived with music before releasing it.” – apt for a record that she also describes as her most personal release. The artist’s previous music has delved into emotions surrounding love and heartbreak with her most listened to track ‘Touch’ from ‘Nothing’s Real’ delving into difficulties in relationships through a dreamy bedroom-pop sound. The album’s bubbly sound claimed Number 13 on the UK Official Albums chart. She says, “I was very comfortable occupying that emotional space, but this felt different. I was not comfortable.”
‘I Got Too Sad For My Friends’ elevates her sound with the incorporation of new instruments and assisting production from Luke Smith who has worked on music from artists such as Depeche Mode. She describes the change in direction as “the type of records you could curl up into and feel spooned by”.
Shura also explains creative inspirations during the creation of the album as she dipped her toes into video game live streaming on Twitch, becoming immersed in the Dungeons & Dragons based game Balder’s Gate. The medieval visuals and unique use of woodwind in the album reveal a tie between the album and her creative pursuits outside of music. From her involvement in online gaming, the artist decided to set up a Discord for fans to interact on, which she calls Shutopia. With 10magazine, she also explains the “earthiness” of the album coming from her experience of walks during lockdown “observing as much of the natural world as much as I could”.
Since the album was created throughout the Covid lockdowns, it explores isolation in its entirety. Shura shares her favourite lyric that she feels encapsulates the full feeling of the record. From the song ‘Richardson’, she calls out, “I got too down around my friends, it was slow but they stopped answering so I stopped talking“. She explains the lyric with, “whoever I was drifted away from the rest of the world and I felt very isolated”.
After enduring an injury from the jiu-jitsu training that was set to feature in ‘World’s Worst Girlfriend’, the artist has taken a break from live concerts and will be performing only two small shows in London following the release of her album. Find tickets to these exciting performances on the artist’s official website.
