John Cooper Clarke co-signs Luvcat’s greatness with a collaborative re-release of ‘He’s My Man’
In June 2024, Luvcat’s face appeared on a Zoom call as Far Out did her first proper interview for a music publication. It’s been over a year, and she’s gone from pubs to huge festival stages. She’s travelled the world a few times over. She’s gone from having one single out, to announcing an album and racking up over 600,000 monthly listeners and a cult of fans. Another anniversary just came around – one year since the release of her second track, ‘He’s My Man’. How to celebrate? Call in the big leagues. Call in John Cooper Clarke.
The thing about Luvcat is that she’s multifaceted. That’s what her fans quickly realised and were hooked on. She can release an indie banger like ‘Love and Money’, or an infectiously fun and bratty track like ‘Lipstick’.
Luvcat has the crowd-pleasing ability that’s caused her to level up so quickly, recently taking on major slots at events like Rock En Seine, Wide Awake, Glastonbury and honestly just about every festival you could imagine across a hectically busy string of over 30 shows. Add on top of that the announcement of US and European tours with tickets flying out, and it’s clear that she’s drawing the people in easy.
But on the other side of Luvcat is something darker. “The Cure, obviously, have a huge influence on me, hence the name,” she told us last year. In her pool of references, she picked out their video for ‘Lullaby’, as well as the careers of Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and My Chemical Romance; people who bridge the gap between music, poetry and theatre.
In her latest track ‘Blushing’, she does that herself as the wordy bridge is more like a poem, or a sermon, than anything else. Or look back at ‘He’s My Man’ and her decision to deliver a straight-up murder ballad as her second-ever release.
To celebrate the song, her darker side and her penchant for poetry, a call to Dr John Cooper Clarke is fitting. Crooning “I’m your man,” Cooper Clarke’s addition calls in that Cohen influence too, harking back to the seductive and gothic 1988 track from the Canadian icon.
But the famed writer and performer adding his unmistakable voice to a new version of the song is more than just a feature. A year on from the track’s release, and over a year into a new and inspiring career of a artist surely set to be a star, Cooper Clarke is a fan too. Given the role he played in backing musical careers like Arctic Monkeys, with his voice on board, it becomes a co-sign to greatness. It’s a co-sign to Luvcat’s poetry, to her serious and varied influences and also to her position as a new northern powerhouse set to lock in a legacy.
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