Paloma Faith’s five favourite albums: “I just sing it verbatim”
There was always something truly captivating about Paloma Faith.
She came to prominence at a time when the music world was scrambling to find a new Amy Winehouse, and had an absolute fleet of possible choices. If they wanted someone with the same down-to-earth attitude but a little more pop nous, there was Lily Allen. If they wanted the confessional songwriting and a more indie-riffic look, there was Kate Nash. The smart money was on Duffy, who was essentially Hollywood Winehouse long before an Amy biopic was conceived.
Then, there was Paloma Faith. She had the astonishing soul pipes, sure, but what truly made her stand out was her artistry and her theatrical streak. While others were keen to present themselves as goddamn relatable people you could meet on any given night out, Faith was something very different. A bona fide performer who’d honed her skills in London’s thriving burlesque and cabaret scenes, she adapted that background into her art and image. A flash of glitter, camp and daring in amongst a sea of indie kids who all looked like they could model for Topshop.
That sense of spectacle is of the many reasons Paloma Faith is arguably the one of that chasing pack with the most staying power. Duffy bowed out of the public eye for completely understandable reasons, and more power to her. Kate Nash long since left behind the mainstream for her reinvention as a radical riot grrrl and Lily Allen makes more from pictures of her feet on OnlyFans than she does from Spotify these days. Faith still makes a chart splash with every album release and tour to this day.
What music inspired Paloma Faith?
However, all her glitz and glamour would mean nothing without the songwriting to back it up. As an interview with Classic Album Sundays shows, Faith’s formative albums speak to someone who appreciates songwriting that’s as emotional and vulnerable as it is catchy. Coming in at number one is Tracy Chapman’s astonishing self-titled debut album, which Faith knows so well that she says, “If I’m ever in a situation where one of the songs comes on, I just sing it verbatim.”
Coming up next is Mama’s Gun by Erykah Badu, a record that hit the young Paloma Faith like a train and showed her a different way of being a woman in pop music. Of the record, she said, “It countered so much of the culture of calling women ‘bitch’ and women feeling like they had to wear bikinis in their videos. I was raised on jazz music, so it was inspiring to me that my past had mixed with something from my own identity and created this sound that felt like it sort of defined me in a way.”
Continuing this theme of conscious hip-hop defining the young Paloma Faith, the next album that shaped her was Arrested Development’s debut album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…. This was a record that didn’t just influence Faith’s music but her morals too, as she said, “They were a hip-hop group and they were pacifists, and I was raised a pacifist, and have always been one and was always jumping into the middle of fights and sort of being a bit of a sacrificial lamb at school.”
So far, the records that have most influenced Paloma Faith have been ones that were released when she was a kid. Yet, there’s always at least a few records from your parents’ collection that have a hold on you and in Faith’s case, the final two albums on her list are two of the best records ever.
First up, Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings The Blues, Faith says, “She was the holy grail of how I wanted to be able to sing. And what I didn’t realise as a young person, sort of trying to copy, is that you can’t sing like that until some bad shit’s happened to you.”
Finally, she talks about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On as arguably the album closest to her heart of all. She says, “I feel like I’ve been listening to it since I was born… I don’t think I discovered it… I think might have been one that’s under my skin. I think both the amazing thing about this album and the terrible thing about this album is that every single song is relevant today – it makes it a classic album because it’s timeless, but it also emphasises how little progress humanity has made and the inevitability of how destructive we are.”
That’s the real reason for the longevity of Paloma Faith. There’s a thoughtfulness and compassion that flows through her music just as much as anything else. Long may she last, and may others take inspiration from her going forward!
Paloma Faith’s five favourite albums:
- Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
- Mama’s Gun – Erykah Badu
- 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…. – Arrested Development
- Lady Sings The Blues – Billie Holiday
- What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
