British vocal powerhouse Freya Ridings has officially announced her highly anticipated third studio album, 'Mother Of Pearl', set for release on May 29th via BMG. The announcement comes alongside the release of her latest single, the hauntingly intimate "I Have Always Loved You," further cementing her return as one of the UK’s most formidable talents.
Following the success of her BRIT-nominated, Gold-certified debut and hit singles like the multi-platinum "Lost Without You," Ridings took a transformative hiatus in Los Angeles. Moving away from her London roots, she collaborated with industry titans such as Fraser T Smith (Adele) and Jenn Decilvio (Miley Cyrus). The result is an 11-track collection that Ridings describes as a "reclamation" of her narrative.
While her previous work leaned into themes of fire and organic earthiness, Ridings views Mother Of Pearl through a different lens:
"This new music evokes water, the big blue sea... it's grief and it's ancestry, the known and the unknown. There's a lot of rebellion and female rage that I wasn't able to express before."
The new single, co-written with Toby Gad (John Legend, Beyoncé) on Valentine's Day, serves as the emotional core of the record. Ridings describes the track as an "almost uncomfortably true" love story that felt like "a spell being cast."
The track is accompanied by a cinematic video directed by Nic Minns, filmed at the evocative Asylum Chapel. The visual is scheduled to premiere at 17:00 on Friday, March 13th, adding a grand, gothic backdrop to Ridings' signature powerhouse vocals.
From the empowering opening track "Euphoria" to the grit of previous single "Wicker Woman," the album showcases an artist who has successfully navigated the pressures of a patriarchal industry to find her true voice. With over 1 billion streams already under her belt, Mother Of Pearl represents Ridings’ most defiant and wise work to date.
