Malu Pierini prays for release, a new single. The title of the Corsican/Copenhagen singer’s new track is almost as poignant as the song itself. Libera Me, meaning ‘free me’ in Latin, borrows its title from a Catholic responsory written by French composer Gabriel Fauré. In it, it serves as a plea for God to safely deliver one’s soul to paradise after death. In Perini’s case the title supports a more humble request. She wants to escape the inner self-sabotaging voice that makes her push away generous love in fear of repeating old patterns. The introspective, darkly humorous lyrics unveil a fragile ego, one that would “rather fling myself off a cliff and break every bone in my body“ than let herself be loved unselfishly.
Perini began her music career as a classical pianist after a chance encounter with the instrument when she was five years old in Denmark. Two movers coincidentally came by her childhood home with a piano they were supposed to get rid of. Safe to say, they never did.
She later sang in a jazz trio, a disco band and a soul orchestra. It felt natural for her to also write her own music, she says: “It’s very different how I write music. Sometimes it’s in the studio with my producers, and other times I’m inspired on the bike ride, on the way out with the garbage, on the beach, in the subway and almost always when I’m about to sleep. Then it’s just a matter of hurrying to write it down or record it on my mobile. I write best when I have to come out with some emotions, and my best songs I have actually written when I was in the middle of a breakup or a personal crisis.”
Serving as a third single for her long-awaited debut album, the track builds expectations and hints at some crucial themes on the record.
On the first single, ‘Souvenir’ she explored the bittersweetness of multilocality. Pierini, who was born in Corsica but raised in Denmark, said about the song at the time, “I used to be unconsciously guided by others’ expectations, but with these new songs, I’m allowing myself to write about things I’d normally keep to myself – and for the first time, my roots and my full name have a place in my music.”
She further explored this more authentic approach to lyricism in the second released track from her album in February, ‘Just for Us’. Written as an homage to first date magic and mayhem, it’s filled with specific images, and the complex bossa nova rhythm further helps to visualise the rush of blood into your face when you see someone for the first time and realise you might have actually fallen in love.
In her whole discography she comes back time and time again to her Paris/Corsican roots. As a child her family used to spend summer holidays on the island, and she credits the vivid storytelling in her music to the warm beaches of the French autonomous territory. In recent years she keeps returning to her grandfather’s home on the north side of the enclave. The single also incorporates her family directly, beginning with a conversation about the song’s title with her 95-year-old uncle.
The single comes out September 5th via Virgin Records and presents Pierini as a future pop force to be reckoned with, not only to European audiences.
Find out more via social media here: https://www.instagram.com/malupierini/
Article by Inka Andera
