The first week of February 2021 has proved to be a great week for British albums all round with all five of the top albums this week coming from home turf. ‘Not Your Muse,’ was closely followed in second place by London rapper Fredo’s ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness,’ and Arlo Parks’ ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams,’ which was released the same day as ‘Not Your Muse,’ coming in an impressive third place. Arlo Parks and Celeste have proved us all right this week, having been two British artists most tipped for success this year throughout 2020 and now they have finally seen that triumph come to fruition.

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Celeste’s chart success this month was certainly helped by all of the hard work she put in throughout 2020. Most notably, she wrote and recorded ‘A Little Love,’ for The John Lewis and Waitrose Christmas Avert 2020 which was hugely successful and touched hearts across the nation. The advert, which has now been viewed 4.4 million times on YouTube, placed Celeste in the forefront of the imagination of the British public like never before. It is not a huge stretch of the imagination to believe that some of those 4.4 million people would have been persuaded by the inclusion of that song on Celeste’s debut album to be persuaded to buy a copy.

As well as standout tracks like ‘A Little Love,’ and single releases ‘Love is Back,’ and ‘Stop This Flame,’ which were both well received in advance of the album’s release, the album is full of beautiful songwriting, pristine production and effortlessly good musicianship on the simple R&B/Pop accompaniment which supports her vocals perfectly. Celeste’s album was made very appealing as a preorder item by a number of exclusive bundles including signed copies which were available to purchases in advance exclusively from her online store. Shortly after the album’s release Celeste also announced that she would be touring the UK in 2022 with tickets being made available to those who have already purchased her album first. Full dates are as follows:

31/03/2022 – O2 Institute – Birmingham
03/04 – O2 Academy – Bristol
07/04 – Bar Rowland Ballroom – Glasgow
12/04 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
16/04 – Albert Hall – Manchester
21/04 – Roundhouse – London

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’

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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.”

Celeste recently became the subject of mainstream debate when she wrote and performed this year’s John Lewis and Waitrose Christmas song ‘A Little Love,’ which has been met with widespread praise for both its video and for the song itself. As a single in its own right, ‘A Little Love,’ has performed well, impressing radio DJs and attracting airplay from stations as current as Radio 1 which is pretty impressive for an up and coming artist.

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It is funny to think that this time last year, Celeste would have been a name known by only a few, and now her song is likely to have been heard by almost every household in the UK. The trajectory of Celeste’s rapidly growing success has taken a surprising upward turn in late 2020, especially amongst all the issues facing musicians at this time. She has supported Lewis Capaldi at Amazon Prime Day Live, as well as picking up the BRITS ‘Rising Star award,’ featured on the cover of numerous magazines, and even performed a special live version of ‘Give A Little Love,’ for The Voice final recently.

Partnering with the John Lewis Christmas advertising campaign has been known to provide an important boost to up and coming artists in the past, with Ellie Goulding’s version of  Elton John’s ‘Your Song,’ 2010 transporting her to even greater success than she had achieved previously. The advert, which was posted on Waitrose & Partners Youtube channel on the 13th of November, has now received 1,828,280 views, so there is no shortage of new audience opportunities for Celeste right now.

The effect that this collaboration has had on Celeste’s audience size is palpable, with her own video for ‘A Little Love,’ which premiered on her own Youtube channel on the 23rd of November collecting a more modest but still significant 257,147 views to date. There are a range of deals available for pre-order of physical copies of the album on a variety of formats including vinyl, CD and cassette on Celeste’s official store as well as signed cards and luxury bundles.

Celeste currently does not have a full tour scheduled in support of the album however with recent news that a coronavirus vaccine has been approved for general use in the UK and depending on the success of the album come its release day, perhaps this will change. In the meantime, fans do have one Celeste concert to look forward to next year when she is due to appear at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire in London on 21/04/21.