Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott will release their fifth studio album ‘N.K-Pop’ on EMI on 30th September 2022. ‘N.K-Pop’ adds another clutch of deliciously barbed pop songs to Heaton’s Ivor award winning song collection. Paul & Jacqui’s previous album ‘Manchester Calling’ went straight to No 1 on its release in March ’20.
The first track that will be made available from ‘N.K-Pop’ is arguably the most heart rending song Heaton has ever written, a beautiful ballad entitled ‘Still’. A track that he hopes will raise awareness for an important cause and the charity Sands, as Heaton explains…
“I wanted to write a song for folk who have lost a child, whether by miscarriage, stillbirth or in infancy. It’s a common occurrence and, for every one story you may hear, there are 20 or 30 left untold. Whilst totally understandable we, together with the stillbirth charity Sands, want to direct people to talking. Many only feel able to talk to their partner about the loss, but talking to someone equally distressed can be suffocating. It has to be good to talk to people outside, because otherwise that loss can overwhelm you. I can’t say that’s wrong, because grief has strange ways of shaping and defining you. As a song, Still had to be quiet, meditative, and simple in it's arrangement, to hopefully reflect and understand those emotions.”
