Madrid (dpa) – Salvador Sobral is always exploring new paths, and he does that in his new album “BPM”. The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 not only went in search of “a new sound identity”, but also wrote all the songs himself for the first time.
“I think this is my most personal work so far,” the 31-year-old Portuguese revealed in an interview with the radio station “Renascença” a few days before the release of his 14 new songs on May 28th.
The heart sets the pace
It is no coincidence that the title is the unit for heart rate. The artist, who survived a heart transplant shortly after his ESC triumph, explains that it is a metaphor about his heart and his life. “The new songs are my heartbeats per minute, my emotional scars.” But also “the beats per minute that give the music pulse and rhythm, that make it come alive”. Although he had composed a little before, he had never written about himself before, said the man from Lisbon.
The work of the singer, pianist and composer, as we now know, cannot be pigeonholed into a musical drawer. In «BPM» there is again this mixture of jazz and chanson, pop and folk, latin and hip hop. In an interview with the newspaper “Diario de Noticias”, Sobral joked: “I’ve spoken to a lot of people and nobody knows which shelf in the store the new album might be on (…) maybe indie jazz. Why not? Yes, that’s what I’m going to start saying in interviews, ”he said with a laugh.
He hates loneliness
Sobral doesn’t just mix styles. He sings in Portuguese, Spanish, English. But regardless of style and language, the former psychology student understands, live and in the studio like no other, how to generously reveal his feelings, his passion, his fears and needs. For example his fear of loneliness “I love people, understanding and touching others. I don’t like loneliness. Maybe that’s why I like to sing so much. ”
In his new work he is particularly proud of the single “Sangue do Meu Sangue” (blood of my blood), which he wrote with his long-time musical companion Leo Aldrey and which can already be admired on YouTube. “It’s the best combination of lyrics and music on the entire album,” says the man who won the jazz ballad “Amar Pelos Dois” (Love for Two) in Kiev four years ago with a point record of 758.
The new plant was created thanks to the pandemic. During the lockdown he had “composed every day with my friend Leo”. It was recorded with several musicians in Le Manoir de Leon in the French Basque Country. “If it hadn’t been for the pandemic, I would have played more music, gone to the cinema, read or played football. There is so much to do that can keep you from focusing on the composition. ”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210602-99-831330 / 3
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