Cruel Sexuality

Album: Trouble in Paradise (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Elly Jackson tends to be elusive when questioned about her sexuality, and her response to various reviews of this track betrays the exhaustion of it all. The androgynous La Roux leader told The Observer: "Of course, because people see the word 'sexuality' and think: 'Oh my God you're gay! But sexuality just means you are a sexual person, and that song's not about me being: 'Oh no, I'm a lesbian!' or anything like that."

    She added that this song is about "10 different subjects linked together."
  • Elly Jackson explained the song's meaning to NME: "It's melancholic in a sexual way, but it's not necessarily about having sex," she said. "It's that yearning melancholy, but not the kind you find in a Neil Young song. It's something I hear in old soul music and Motown."

    "I listened to The Isley Brothers' 'This Old Heart Of Mine ' and the backing vocals in that second verse are the most sexual thing you've ever heard," Jackson added. "But it's kind of vulnerable... that kind of emotional frustration that has a kind of sexual overtone to it. It's constant and it keeps your adrenaline up."

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