Aspects

Album: True Meanings (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • In 2018, Paul Weller released True Meanings, an album that saw him swapping his usual rock swagger for something altogether more mellow. The track "Aspects" is a contemplative number where Weller reflects on life, change, and acceptance.
  • Weller wrote both "Aspects" and another True Meanings track, "What Would He Say?" on the same day.

    "My missus was out of the house, so it was just me and the kids," he told Mojo magazine. "I had both songs running through my head and I thought, I've got to get this down now. So I went to the toilet – the only place I could get any peace. Halfway through the demo on my phone, you can hear my daughter: daaad!"
  • The True Meanings album title was lifted from "Aspects."

    To find true meanings
    And patterns in things
    Symbols in making
    These moments exist


    "Towards the end of making the record we had a few other ideas, but that said it all to me," Weller told HMV. "It's a quote from a song called 'Aspects'. I liked it, these aren't all my own true meanings. People can find their own true meanings in the songs."
  • "Aspects" was released as a single on May 25, 2018, to coincide with Paul Weller's 60th birthday. It served as a reminder that he was still evolving and surprising.
  • "Aspects" is a regular highlight of Weller's live shows, particularly at his orchestral concerts. A performance with the London Metropolitan Orchestra during a Radio 2 special for his 60th birthday was later captured on the live album Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Festival Hall, released in 2019.

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