After releasing “one of 2024’s best debut albums”(Guardian), Fabiana Palladino returns with new single ‘Drunk’. Self-written and produced, ‘Drunk’ was recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios in August of this year alongside Ellis Dupuy (Drums) and Joe Newman (Guitar), with her father and the legendary Pino Palladino later adding his signature bass to complete the track. The new single sees Palladino shift from the silky, polished production on her debut album to a more raw, immediate sound. It captures the energy of live performance which is further elevated by the analog mixing from the five-time GRAMMY award-winning engineer, Russell Elevado.
Out now via Paul Institute / XL Recordings, ‘Drunk’ is a testament to Palladino’s ever-evolving artistry, where emotionally charged songwriting meets masterful production, all underpinned by her captivating vocals. It’s a powerful reminder of why she is one of this year’s most exciting breakthrough pop artists.
Speaking on the single, Fabiana Palladino says “Drunk was written with the chaos of modern dating as my backdrop: trying to navigate the apps, the blurred line between casual and serious, experiencing the evolving terminology in real life —situationships, love bombing, ghosting, breadcrumbing. Are they new behaviours, or do we just have new words for them? I’m not sure, but I know it’s not just me dealing with how complicated it all seems to feel these days. In Drunk, I’m unsteady, but I’m leaning into the uncertainty and the drama, trying to find some kind of art and meaning in it. ‘Cause ‘It’s no fun on your own, and peace is boring.”
In April of this year, Fabiana Palladino released her self-titled debut album. Over 5 years in the making, the album was released to widespread acclaim picking up 5* from the likes of The Guardian and Stereogum, meanwhile Lorde declared “I implore you to listen to this album, to my ear the year’s best. That it’s a DEBUT ALBUM is surreal to me”. Written and produced by Palladino, the album features performances from renowned musicians and close friends including Paul Institute co-founder Jai Paul, her father and legendary session bassist Pino Palladino, brother and Yussef Dayes bassist Rocco Palladino, renowned drummer Steve Ferrone and strings from Rob Moose.
Recent Praise of Fabiana Palladino:
““Fabiana Palladino might well be one of 2024’s best debut albums.” – The Guardian *****
“They don’t make pop music like this anymore.” – STEREOGUM’s Album of the Week
““Fabiana Palladino finally shared her self-titled AOTY-contender debut with us earlier this year and gifted RALLY with a performance filled with hits from the album. The artist’s captivating vocals perfectly match her glamorous, synth-heavy production to craft a modern, unique take on 80s pop. “ – CRACK MAGAZINE
“a sleek entry for a unique new voice” – The Line of Best Fit
“Essentially rooted in R&B yet with ethereal, other-worldly aspects, her exacting creative nature made each release wonderfully multi-faceted.” – CLASH
“The London singer and producer Fabiana Palladino is a smooth operator whose polished debut of ballads makes for a classy statement” – UNCUT
ABOUT FABIANA PALLADINO:
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For more or less a brand-new artist, Fabiana Palladino faces an unusual level of anticipation. The London musician broke out in 2017 as one of the Paul Institute’s founding artists after her shadowy, classicist R&B influenced pop reached Jai Paul, who started the label alongside his brother A. K. Paul. Releasing just three singles in four years, she caught the ear of critics – Pitchfork likened “Mystery” to “a scratch track from a big-budget 80s studio that’s been smuggled out on reel-to-reel tape” – but Palladino’s output remained slight while she worked as an in-demand session musician for the likes of SBTRKT and Jessie Ware, cycling from one tour to the next. This year, she formed part of Jai’s band for his live debut (which she also supported), the most wildly awaited performances in years. “I’m taking it one bit at a time because it is very strange and a bit overwhelming,” says Palladino.
All the while, she was intensively working on her self-titled debut album – Fabiana Palladino – in secret. Written and produced by Palladino, it has been a long time coming, partially because of her playing commitments but also because of her perfectionism. “I have a horrible fear of putting something out and regretting it,” she admits. Covid slowed things too, amplifying the sense of loneliness and isolation that runs through the album, in which she confronts how a life should look in the absence of traditional relationship and family structures. Made in the wake of the end of a long relationship, it’s an intimate, after-dark record that exudes the toughness and femininity of Janet Jackson circa Control and Annie Lennox on DIVA, exerts the classic songwriting of Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell and subverts the classic romantic Motown duets of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell to unpick normativity in relationships.
Palladino’s references are all big studio records, a sound that she strove for while self-recording at home and in the XL studio. “I wanted to push myself production-wise,” she says. “I wanted high-production value sounds because I grew up listening to music that was made in studios, played by great musicians and recorded by brilliant engineers, and I really appreciate that.” This sleek, distinctive record is testament to her growing confidence as a producer, encouraged, says Palladino, by Jai. Early on, she would send him demos and ask him to produce them. “He would say, ‘You’ve already produced it – it’s there.’ Palladino’s dad, Pino Palladino, is one of history’s most famous session men: she learned from him the integrity it takes to work on other people’s ideas, and gradually understood how to apply it to her own work. “I like creating other people’s vision, being solid and consistent,” she says. “Being an artist is a totally different headspace.”
It’s one that Palladino seems to conjure effortlessly. The self-titled album feels like a classic pop album: its nimble melodies haunting and sensual, the writing elegantly whittled down to turn complex questions about desire and satisfaction into immediate hooks. “I’m getting closer / Still it’s on my mind / What we’re all about / ‘Cos I don’t even know if I want you around,” she sings on “Closer”, which gasps and glints as two would-be lovers dance around a grey area. “When I go to sleep I’m tired but I can’t dream any more,” she sings on “I Can’t Dream Anymore”, thrust forward by heaving bass that resonates with exhaustion and frustration at the uncertainty. “I had a significant relationship that ended followed by a period of a few years of like: what the hell am I doing?” she says. “People are getting married and having kids around you, and I was not in that at all. There’s a certain amount of pain in having to accept that that’s not the way it’s gone. But also: how can I embrace that and create power for myself? I feel amazing about it now, and so happy that my life has gone in that way.”
Fabiana Palladino underscores that push and pull. “The songwriting is relatively traditional,” says Palladino, “but the production isn’t. It’s trying to disrupt certain expectations.” Palladino’s pop career is finally taking flight but that doesn’t mean the anticipation is over.
