Picking Up The Pieces

Album: Fall To Grace (2012)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the first single from London-based neo-soul singer-songwriter Paloma Faith's second album, Fall To Grace. The record was helmed by producer Nellee Hooper (Massive Attack, Bjork, Garbage, No Doubt) who admitted: "I'd never really heard of Paloma Faith. I was living in LA when her record came out, so I kind of missed it. Sony/RCA called me and suggested I meet her when I was next in London.

    At lunch she sat and talked in such detail, as if every song was a short film," he continued. "referencing everything from Chinese romantic cinema to Hip Hop. When I played the CD she gave me the songs flew out of my speakers. We got together and decided right away to embark on this journey."
  • Faith explained the song's meaning: "It deals with the issues of being in a relationship with someone who is still recovering from a previous relationship with another person. It is a song about self doubt and insecurity."
  • The song's music video was directed by Emil Nava and finds Faith in a tempestuous and crumbling relationship with her boyfriend. The singer's real life friend, James, portrays her love interest.

    The visual's setting was inspired by David Lynch and his television drama Twin Peaks as well as the movie The Shining. Faith explained the concept of the clip to Digital Spy. She said: "The idea is that we've just broken up and we're both very upset. He's sort of besotted by this other version of me who represents perfection. He's in love with perfection, but the perfection doesn't actually exist - it's like the perfection that I've imagined in my own paranoid, self-loathing way."
  • Faith told The Metro that the album title is a reflection on a series of "difficult experiences." "I can either allow these to make me a depressed person or I can allow them to make me stronger," she added. "I decided that rather than fall from grace, I'd fall to grace."
  • Paloma Faith explained the background to the video to Spinner: "We decided to film the video in a nostalgic style: It's classic, but timeless at the same time," she said. "I play both myself and my projected imaginary version of what the perfect woman would be -- who is obviously not real. The love interest is played by a good friend of mine, James, who's a photographer; it was much easier because of that. The idea is that we've just broken up and we're both very upset. He's sort of besotted by this other version of me who represents perfection. He's in love with perfection, but the perfection doesn't actually exist - it's like the perfection that I've imagined in my own paranoid, self-loathing way."

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