As she comes up to the release date of her third album ‘Pink Noise’ Laura Mvula has discussed her feelings on the stereotyping of black artists, and spoken out about her experience being dropped by Sony records a few months after the release of her second album, ‘The Dreaming Room’. In the interview with iNews, she described being dropped by the label as a ‘shock’ and went on to say that “It never even entered my mind that I could be let go” after the success of The Dreaming Room, which won Album of The Year 2017 at the Ivor Novellos. 

She explained, “it seemed bizarre that I had all this critical acclaim, was applauded over and over again, but where it counts on paper it just wasn’t translating….That’s so heartbreaking, to know financially, it’s not a worthy investment. I’m not a worthy investment. That was a tough pill to swallow. I’ve since learned that the music industry is a complex beast.” 

Both her first and second albums were very well received critically, and she said “I was enjoying some of the flattery from taglines like ‘Our generation’s Nina Simone’, ‘She lives in her own lane’. And it was positive – I was writing and performing with orchestras and touring all over the world.” However, despite the positivity of these epithets she began to feel the weight of being expected to live up to the icons of black music, saying “I was aware pretty much from day dot that I needed to go on being this ‘thing.’” 

After the experience of being dropped by Sony, Mvula speaks of how she wasn’t sure she would ever write music again, saying “I can’t tell you how much at one stage I didn’t think I would ever write a song again, let alone a whole body of work.”

On the happier topic of the upcoming Pink Noise, Mvula states that “There are two things I want people to engage with…The party, the black barbecue in the garden, and then the more solemn lullaby soulful lament, which has always been a part of my music.” 

‘Pink Noise’ will be released on the 10th of July 2021.