New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Lianne La Havas has released "Can't Fight," a new song from her upcoming self-titled album, due July 17 on Nonesuch. The new song, which you can hear below, arrived a day after the release of her homemade video for "Paper Thin," a previously released track from the album, which you can watch below as well. You can hear the new song below and download both the of the above as well as the track "
Bittersweet" when you pre-order the album on limited-edition clear vinyl, standard vinyl, and CD from the Top40-Charts.com Store.
"'Can't Fight' is that feeling of, you know it's not good, but you can't not do it," La Havas explains of the new song, which was co-written and produced by Mura Masa. "People say if you're having a hard time in a relationship, just leave. It's so easy to say, but it's so much more complicated than that. Because there's two of you, and neither of you are perfect. And there are things that you're learning along the way. So you think, 'Well, let me do a little bit of work and just see if we can get that feeling back—it's possible because we do really love each other.' So I guess at the time, I was convinced that yes, it's hard, but we can get through this.
"The melody really reminds me of what I was listening to when I was twelve years old, discovering tons of R&B, and I like the structure of it, how neat it is—rhythmic syllables with a rhythmic backing track. For me, it's also really fun guitar, and I think that's why it's ultimately still optimistic.
"I made it with Mura Masa in in Peckham. I first worked with him a few years ago, around the time of my second album coming out, and I just love his music. We started jamming, and 'Can't Fight' emerged. We were also listening to a lot of Vulfpeck—they're incredible musicians, really deep beats with classic soulful melodies but with a contemporary, slightly nerdy take on it, in the best possible way."
The ten songs on Lianne La Havas—nine originals plus a cover of Radiohead's "Weird Fishes"—span the arc of a love affair, one that brought growth and newfound confidence. "This is my first completely self-produced album with my own band. I got my own way with everything—all the decisions that you hear on this album were mine," she says. "I'm a woman now, so I'm less shy and timid about saying certain things. And there's no right or wrong when it's your record, so I was very much embracing that fact, as well."
