The video’s retro styling which takes us back to the dusty days of paper, desks and telephones are a breath of fresh air in a music industry saturated with hypermodern cliches or equally gadget laden 80s throwbacks and gives us something to really think about. The gentle nostalgia evoked by the video combines perfectly with the simple yet emotive song which tugs at the heart strings in both its musicality and its lyrical content and marks Celeste once again as a master of combining music with the moving image, a skill she first demonstrated with her incredible song composed for the Waitrose & John Lewis Partnership’s Christmas advert 2020 ‘A Little Love.’

While the John Lewis Christmas ad showed Celeste’s talent for writing to a brief, the work she has done on ‘Love Is Back,’ is very much her own, with the laid back R&B style fitting perfectly to her dusty, emotive vocal style which is in all ways unique and incredibly powerful. The video comes just over a week before Celeste’s debut album ‘Not Your Muse,’ is due to be released a month earlier than planned, a surprise announcement which delighted and pleasantly surprised fans who will find their pre-ordered copies arriving much earlier than expected.

While the exact reason’s behind this decision are not known it is likely that the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the UK, which is now claiming more lives on a daily basis than during the peak of the first wave, which has been the cause of another national lockdown without a clear end in sight may have played a role in this decision. As music fans in the UK settle in for another few months without their beloved live music, Celeste has been kind enough to gift us with one of the most highly anticipated works of recorded music of the year so far, and indeed it was hotly awaited throughout 2020 as well when Celeste was becoming the UK’s newest rising star.

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Celeste’s debut album ‘Not Your Muse,’ releases on the 29th of January and is available to pre-order here, there are also exclusive bundles including hand drawn prints and alternative covers available from the official store, signed copies available from Amazon on CD or Vinyl. The album will also be available on all major streaming platforms from the 29th and can be pre-ordered as a digital download from the iTunes store. With Celeste already looking to be one of the biggest British artists of 2021 this is definitely one to get your hands on.

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In December 2020 Celeste told her followers that ‘Not Your Muse’ was the “beginning of finding (her) voice”, saying that it’s empowering for her. She continued, “Each song that has been written can pin point a very specific moment in my life, so I look forward to you all hearing those stories.. I hope you like it.”

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So far from the album’s track-list three songs have been released. First, over a year ago on 9th January 2020 came ‘Stop This Flame’, a fast-paced track with a show-stopping chorus. This was followed by ‘A Little Love’ in November despite the songwriter sharing a number of other songs which are not featured on the album. The song was written for the John Lewis Christmas advert and was perfectly heart-warming for the winter time.

Finally, Celeste shared her latest release on 31st December, ‘Love Is Back’, a subtle love song about falling in love with someone new after a rocky romance history. It was previously performed at various live shows, but never released officially until recently. Upon its debut, Celeste played the song on Jools Holland’s New Year’s Eve Hootenanny.

Check out the full track-list for ‘Not Your Muse’ below.

1. ‘Ideal Woman’
2. ‘Strange (Edit)’
3. ‘Tonight Tonight’
4. ‘Stop This Flame’
5. ‘Tell Me Something I Don’t Know’
6. ‘Not Your Muse’
7. ‘Beloved’
8. ‘Love is Back’
9. ‘A Kiss’
10. ‘The Promise’
11. ‘A Little Love’
12. ‘Some Goodbyes Come with Hellos’

The song, which was also performed by Celeste at Jools Holland’s New Years Eve Hootenanny, is given a much more somber edge after the festivities of New Year’s Eve which reflects the difficult time the country is going through this month. With coronavirus cases rising, Britain is in for a very somber month and it is only right that our music should reflect this, if only in emotion rather than actual lyrical content. In contrast to the vibrant atmosphere of Jools Holland, the Apple Music session was filmed in a more somber environment with pale surroundings and overhead lighting and plenty of distance between every member of the ensemble.

Although the actual video was recorded a couple of years ago, the somber but laid back mood of the performance seems prophetic the current mood and one feels that the performance could easily have been recorded this month. Celeste has had a very successful 2020 despite it all and is leading up to a debut album release which will almost certainly be a chart success. From picking up awards from the BBC to collaborating with John Lewis and Waitrose Partners to become the first artist to write their own song especially for the Christmas advert. With some hope starting to emerge for Britain to emerge from this crisis in the coming months, January and February are still highly likely to be very sombre months for us all and the sensitive music of Celeste may come to be a perfect accompaniment for these difficult times.

Celeste has made available for pre-order signed CD and Vinyl copies of ‘Not Your Muse,’ on Amazon after selling out of the first round of stock, boding well already for the chart success of the album. The singer is also selling signed art cards for fans to pin up on their walls when release day finally comes. With only a few songs ‘Strange,’ ‘Stop This Flame,’ ‘Hear My Voice,’ and ‘I’m Here,’ as well as ‘Love is Back,’ are just five tracks from the upcoming double length album due for release on the 26th of February this year, definitely one to watch out for.

While fans eagerly look forward to February to get their hands on a copy of Celeste’s album, live music junkies will be disappointed to learn that no plans for a tour to support the album have been announced yet. However, this is not unexpected given the current crisis and hopefully once the vaccine is rolled out, things will start to return to normal.

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‘Love Is Back’ focuses on finding new love, with the artists soulful vocals gliding atop a horn-filled, bouncy instrumental. The track evokes an exciting, fresh energy, making it the perfect track to enter into 2021 with. The single follows a myriad of mew music the singer has released this year, with single ‘A Little Love’ being used in the iconic John Lewis Christmas advert this year. The singer also released ‘Little Runaway’ and ‘I Can See The Change’, which was produced by renowned artist Finneas.

This new music came alongside news of the artists debut album ‘Not Your Muse’, which is set to be released on February 26, 2021. “I know it’s been a long while that I have been talking about this, but the day has finally come that I can share this with you. For me it’s the beginning of finding my voice, the one that empowers me and hopefully those who it reaches,” Celeste explained when talking of the albums meaning on social media.

 

 

 

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“For me it’s the beginning of finding my voice, the one that empowers me and hopefully those who it reaches. Each song that has been written can pin-point a very specific moment in my life, so I look forward to you all hearing those stories… I hope you like it.”