Critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and all round creative Marie Naffah shares the music video for her stunning new single ‘Angie’, out on 27 April. The track is taken from her upcoming second EP, ‘Trains’, set for release on 27 May. Marie also announces a highly anticipated live show, headlining St Pancras Old Church on 22 April.
TAKEN FROM HER UPCOMING NEW EP ‘TRAINS’ OUT ON 27 MAY
& ANNOUNCES LONDON HEADLINE SHOW: ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH, 22 APRIL
With the first single off the project ‘I Want More’ landing the coveted ‘Spotlight Artist’ slot on the Independent and a glowing write up on Line of Best Fit, and latest single ‘Run Away With Me’ premiering on Wonderland Magazine, Marie is set to captivate listeners once again with ‘Angie’. The track is a composite of people that we’ve all encountered: “a bit of me, a bit of people I know, and strangers, too”. Naffah’s most serious song on the EP, she hesitated to include it on the release until she witnessed the hush it cast over a gig earlier this year at London venue The Slaughtered Lamb. “I played it, and afterwards people would say ‘was it about me?’”
Speaking of the track, Marie says, “‘Angie’ is about accepting that sometimes it’s easier to be sad than pretend to be happy. The song says ‘that’s OK – you be upset, I’m here.’ It can be scary sharing something so raw, but I think that fear is good – it means something. I’d listen to Leonard Cohen in the studio and remind myself that softening the blow doesn’t necessarily make for good music. These songs are a product of a hard two years. I guess everyone’s felt it in some way, so I hope it resonates with people.”
Marie has the unique ability to unite people around a shared experience, and this is what truly sets her apart as an exciting star on the rise. Now more than ever, audiences crave deep and meaningful connections following a time where forging and maintaining relationships has been so difficult. Hungry to feel that magical connection again, last year Marie set herself an ambitious challenge when restrictions began to ease in the middle of 2021 by playing fifty shows in fifty days: ‘50/50: For the Love of Live’.
Not only did Naffah pull the feat off, the idea took her on a surprising journey around the UK – from playing for a sweaty audience working out at the gym, to serenading people queuing for their vaccines in Huddersfield, and performing at a refugee centre in Middlesbrough. Wherever she went, the sense of shared experience felt immediate. The stories and people that Naffah encountered along the way ultimately inspired her to write new EP ‘Trains’.
Following her 50/50: For The Love Of Live tour, Marie was selected as one of NME’s ‘Big 10’, naming her as an artist to watch in the post-pandemic industry. Previous to that, she was named MTV’s Unsigned Artist of the Year before even releasing her first song. Following the release of her debut EP ‘Golden State’ which was released to wide-spread critical acclaim, Marie has also delivered her own TED Talk, toured the US, scored a movie for the BFI Female Film Festival, and played sold out shows at iconic venues including Omeara, The Lexington, Camden Assembly and the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s.
A kind of musical scrapbook, Marie’s upcoming EP ‘Trains’ marks a kind of musical arrival as the artists most assured work yet, and through starting with a dot-to-dot map of places she visited in an isolated year, the release unlocks private feelings – yearning, anger, longing, escapism – that we can all relate to. This, for Marie, is why she makes music in the first place.
MARIE NAFFAH ONLINE
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