Shura – I Got Too Sad For My Friends
The third studio album from Shura, I Got Too Sad For My Friends, is a lesson in melancholy, but that isn't the full story
At the centre of Shura’s third album is the rousing anthemic piano ballad I Wanna Be Loved By You, and it captures the DNA at the heart of this yearning, vulnerable record. It occupies a place of lovelorn uncertainty: forgiveness, guilt, pettiness, anger, Jesus Christ – it’s all here. The album is a lesson in melancholy. You’d expect that, it is called I Got Too Sad For My Friends, after all. But that isn’t the full story.
There are moments of faith throughout. Recognise soars, built over cinematic 80s power drums and including the hopeful refrain, 'What if I recognise I’m alive? / I’ll be here for a while'. Dreamy, soulful slow jam If You Don’t Believe in Love (ft. Helado Negro) seems to provide an explanation for Shura’s struggles: 'If you don’t believe in love you don’t believe in much'. So too does the tender acoustic finger-picked closer Bad Kid (ft. Becca Mancari), which sees the singer-songwriter exploring her bad habits ('It’s time to get up out of bed'; 'My pills were making it worse') through a more sympathetic lens: 'I know I’m not a bad kid, so how come I feel it? / I want to wash it all away'.
Listen to: World's Worst Girlfriend, Bad Kid, I Wanna Be Loved By You