New York, NY (Top40 Charts) It was always only a matter of time for Kate Hudson. There had always been songs written and sung, tours joined up with, and moments of pouring her soul into melodies and lyrics for her own reasons. It was always only a matter of when for the girl who came of age in the California canyons as Pearl Jam, Madonna and Sheryl Crow were leaving their mark on a generation of young people to share her own music with the world.
"It's like the shadow self," she explains, "those things you don't see, but are always with you and a part of you. I have always had a room for my piano ever since I began living on my own. I've been caught up writing and witnessing life in songs since I was a child. But it always comes down to the moment, and the ability to make sure you can be there for the music. Finally, for me, that time is now."
And that song is "Talk About Love," a whirling euphoria of rock/pop voltage that reaches into the void to claim the tenderest, juicy spaces in the name of not just love, but connection at the deepest possible level. Written with Linda Perry and musician/songwriter Danny Fujikawa, "Talk About Love" delivers a truth about how to seek what you dream over gleaming columns of synth, guitars and a rhythm track that keeps listeners engaged and moving.
"You only have one first single," she explains, "and I wanted it to be something delicious and sexy and all the things that I believe in. I wanted it to be open and seeking, searching to find something powerful. But I also wanted the music to be the rock, the pop, the dance music and even a bit of the alternative records I love. It was a lot to put into one song, but thankfully, I had some wonderful people working with me. And so, here we are!"
Independently recorded and realized, Hudson worked with producer Johan Carlsson and Fujikawa to create a sound that is both fresh and somehow familiar. With a deep love of music that extends back before her acting career began, the woman who brought the ultimate rock muse Penny Lane to life in Cameron Crowe's Academy Award-winning Almost Famous wanted to wait for the time and music to be right.
"How do you ever know?" she asks. "And then one day, you're writing, and you think, 'Now.' Linda challenged me to write a full album once she heard me sing and that's when I decided to complete the song cycle. It might've been crazy to some, but once I committed, all the songs, the sounds and even the way the recording process came together, the timing was right."
"Talk About Love" is a cool blast that suggests an emerging voice that explores desire with a strong hand holding an intersectional bouquet of dance and songcraft.
With an album due this year, Kate Hudson - songwriter, singer, doyenne, - emerges as a woman who understands the drama and nuance of eroticism, the quest for love and the need for human bonding.
"Talk About Love" is only the beginning.
