Gabriella Cilmi confirms first album in 13 years, shares new single “YRU Hanging Around”

The news follows the arrival of the title track earlier this year, which saw a Radio 2 premiere from Gary Davies and set up a run of shows including a packed Great Escape set and a nationwide tour as special guest to Beverley Knight. Now with a fresh collection of songs finished on her own terms, Cilmi is returning to the industry she first entered as a teenager.

Recorded live to tape at Middle Farm in Devon under a harvest moon, Pure Love is the sound of an artist jettisoning outside expectation. Producer Peter Miles oversaw the sessions, with contributions from Anna Krantz, Justin Parker, Anu Pillai, DJ Yoda, Julia Church, and Jonny Henderson, among others. The palette leans into deep soul, jazz, and classic rock, the kind of organic setting that gives Cilmi’s warm, throaty contralto room to stretch.

Cilmi described the record as something she’s been working towards for years. “Pure Love is the record I’ve always wanted to make,” she said. “The songs and lyrics are more unfiltered and the recordings have a rawness to them so I feel like it’s the most pure record I’ve made... I like to think of the songs like ripe fruit finally ready to be consumed after lots of watering, tending, and patience.”

Speaking to the new single, she explains, “'YRU Hanging Around' is about the realisation that you’ve been waiting on the approval of others for way too long. It’s about that aha moment when all of a sudden you have an epiphany that you don’t need anyone’s permission to live the life you want except your own.”

Cilmi’s career arc is well documented. Signed to Mushroom Records in Australia at 13, she went global a few years later with “Sweet About Me” (which was translated into Simlish for The Sims 2) and a gold-certified UK Top 10 debut, Lessons To Be Learned. The scrutiny that followed made it difficult to steer her own course. A second LP, Ten, and its single “On A Mission” charted, but by 2013’s The Sting she had begun to step away. She broke her silence in 2019 with The Water EP, which - pardon the pun - enabled her to dip her toes back in while building up to today's full-blown return.

Live plans are taking shape. Alongside the Beverley Knight support run and an Australian tour with The Corrs, Cilmi has confirmed a slot at Camper Calling on 29 August, with more dates promised. A recent performance video of the title track, cut live at Middle Farm, underlines the Stax-adjacent warmth of the band she’s assembled around her.

Pure Love tracklist

“Pure Love”
“No To A King”
“YRU Hanging Around”
“Pieces”
“Too Far Gone”
“No Apologies”
“You Killed Our Song”
“Not Enough To Keep Me Down”
“What We Do”
“Love Me Like It’s The End Of The World”