Tribute

Album: Tribute (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the title track of the British singer and musician John Newman's debut album. He told Billboard magazine that most of the tracks came out of his breakup with his previous girlfriend, which happened just after he had his first #1 single as the featured vocalist on Rudimental's "Feel The Love."

    "In the time that I was going through watching things change and the music picking up, I was trapped in this house that me and my girlfriend had built this whole relationship in," he explained. "And I had to move out of that house, because it was like every wall reminded me of this breakup. A lot of the songs come from that -- how I couldn't look at certain things in that house, and how I had to get out."
  • Adele, Beyoncé, James Brown, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Kings of Leon, Lana Del Rey, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder are among the many artists name-checked on this song. "'Tribute' is who I want to thank," Newman explained to MTV UK. "It's people who I've listened to and it's people who've inspired me, but it's certainly not me comparing myself to them."

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