All Saints announce comeback album, Red Flag
Story by Jack Foley
ALL Saints will launch their new single One Strike on February 26, 2016.
Described as a canny, charming reminder of everything huge swathes of the global pop audience loved about All Saints in the first place, the track is a perceptible call to arms for anyone who experiences a single moment, perhaps a phone call or conversation, that changes your life completely.
The song is set against a lovelorn yet uplifting melody and the most heart-breaking middle eight likely to be sung by any harmonious assembly this year.
Shaznay explains: “When I write, I just think about what’s on my mind. The lyrics came from somewhere very real. Nic was going through a lot of things at that time. That was at the forefront of my mind because it was the heaviest thing going on.”
The song was written as a direct response to the younger Appleton sister’s marriage dissolving.
“We spoke for hours and hours on the phone,” Nic says.
“The first few times I heard it in my car,” says Nat, “I couldn’t stop crying because I could hear so clearly what it was about.”
The single will be followed by their first album in a decade, Red Flag, released on April 8.
After touring the UK in 2014, All Saints resolved to do something they never thought they would again, and wrote, recorded and produced a new record.
It was not made without massive prior consideration.
“We didn’t force ourselves into this situation,” says Natalie, “and it couldn’t have happened at a better time in all of our lives. I just missed being with the girls. It makes us happy. Listen, if you can work with your favourite people, then why not? I have such a good time and I spend more time laughing and having fun than I do working.”