LUCY SPRAGGAN MAKES "CHOICES" WITH NEW ALBUM
UK singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan recently released her sixth album, Choices, which is full of songs that are introspective regarding her fight with quitting alcohol and drugs. She got her start as part of the UK version of X-Factor and quickly ascended to much more than a reality TV star and this record proves that.
The album opens with a song entitled “Flowers”, which sets the sort of twangy tone of the record immediately. It’s a catchy song with lyrics that flow very well, and discusses being out and catching someone’s eye who’s dancing with a girl and just how determined you are to bring them home.
The second song on the record, “Roots”, is very relatable because although she talks about buying a big house and fast cars, it talks about not having roots somewhere. I feel like that is something a lot of millennials can relate to (as a millennial myself). The themes of introspection and the quitting of alcohol and drugs is apparent through this whole record, especially on the songs “Sober” and “If I Had A God”. Lucy questions her choices through her life and realizes she needs to quit the party life if she wants to pull herself back up.
These songs illustrate a point she made in an interview with American Songwriter magazine,
“I woke up one morning and I said that I was not going to do this anymore and that was the last time I had a drink. A week later, I went into the studio, wanting to write a song about the reasons why I am doing this, so I can kind of freeze them in time. And that way, I would never forget why I am doing it.”
Lucy Spraggan is not a name many people are going to know, but they absolutely should because there are songs for every mood on this record. In the fourth track, “Heartbreak Suites” you can see her truly pouring her heart out and it has lines you can connect to such as
“When I fall apart, I break my own heart/ half of my friends are no longer my friends.”
This talks about how you mess up friendships and regret losing people over bad decisions you’ve made.
The track “I Spent a Night in the Desert” is a fun upbeat song about adventures with friends and makes you feel like you’re there with her through her narration of the adventures, and how they jumped off cliffs and built a fire. It’s clearly dedicated to a friend she cares very deeply about because she sings the pre-chorus
“You remind me that I’ll never be alone, you are the kind of friend you can write songs about.”
Spraggan discovered multiple ways to branch out on this album. “You’ve Let Yourself Down” is a sound shift for Spraggan, with a pop feel seldom explored on her other albums. Her latest single “Animal” is about the discovery of one’s most powerful self. Then there is “Flowers,” the first song that Spraggan says that she has written about being, and more importantly feeling, like a sexy woman. No matter the song, her vocals are on display and show how powerful her voice is. It would completely fill a room and demand your attention.
The title track “Choices” is the penultimate track, and continues the theme of having one life and doing what you can to continue to be yourself and make your own choices in life just as she has done. This is the kind of song everyone needs right now - a reminder to be yourself and be confident in choices you make.
“Don’t be afraid of chances/someone’ll take them if you don’t.”
This is definitely an album to check out and listen all the way through as you’ll connect to something in every song, even if you haven’t recently stopped drinking and partying.