Gossip have shared new album title track ‘Real Power’, written by Beth Ditto in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.
The band returned earlier this year with details of a comeback and new album, which will land on March 22 and be their first music since 2012’s ‘A Joyful Noise‘.
‘Real Power’ follows first single ‘Crazy Again’ in previewing the Rick Rubin-produced album, and Ditto spoke in a statement of the global anti-racism protests that inspired the new song.
“That song is about how awesome our city is and how it really showed up,” she said. “The system was being rearranged and we were forcing people to reckon with it at a time when it could literally make you ill to gather, during a pandemic.
“That’s real power — people coming together, making those decisions to be in the streets.”
Listen to ‘Real Power’ below.
“Getting to work with Rick again was a true gift!” the band exclusively told NME in a recent interview. “He doesn’t remotely care about outside opinions around what you could or should be making. He creates calm, positive, open spaces- emotional space and the actual physical vibe of his studio – that make you free to experiment.
“We felt genuinely cared about and supported. We’re both such maniacs, he’s amazing at helping us focus the chaos. We were writing like crazy, there are probably 30-40 songs and bits of things that came out of it, just throwing everything against the wall and having the best time! It’s not only about music, Rick helps you connect with yourself and everything else comes out of that. It’s a deep jam. We trust him completely.”
In a recent In Conversation video interview with NME, Ditto also spoke of the band’s music being used in TV show Skins, and how she had still “never seen that TV show”, adding that she was initially hesitant to be affiliated with the series.
“The person who owned the label got it onto the TV show. When I heard what the name of the show was, I lost my shit because ‘skins’ meant skinhead,” she shared. “I was like, What the fuck? What?! But then I learned what it meant here. It got lost in translation.”
The singer-songwriter added that her first reaction was: “Who the fuck thought of this? Like, whose idea is that?”
She continued: “It freaked me out. I was so mad, I was livid. It’s a teenage drama… about what?”
Gossip will make their UK return in March, headlining the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Manchester alongside The Smile and Young Fathers.