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January 2023 Archive
24.01.23 > Strange Phenomenon
This is a quote from Katie's blog back in October 2005. (Yes, she did blog on and off for a while in the days before social media ruled the world!). Hard to believe that is almost half her lifetime ago but she was a sassy lassy back then and well on her way to evolving into a warm, wise and wonderful woman. Be warned: if ever you meet Katie you will witness a strange phenomenon!
19.01.23 > The Complete Katie Melua
I'm aware that a lot of streaming music links are for Spotify. After all, it is considered the King of music streaming. However, I've never really liked it for various reasons. For me, YouTube Music is far more impressive. Why? Well, for one thing, you can upload your own music collection to your account if you can't find it already there, which does sometimes happen with obscure albums. There is also the killer feature–video. If you are listening to a song and there is a video available for it you can seamlessly switch to watching the video at the touch of a button without losing your place in the song. It is a very slick feature beautifully done. Like Spotify, there is a free version but if you are serious about your music you will want to subscribe to avoid annoying ads. Since one subscription gets you YouTube Music as well as YouTube Video it is well worth the money but subscribing to Spotify as well is probably overkill, especially in the current economic climate. But I recommend you give YouTube Music a trial and see what you think. If you are a die-hard Spotifan then that's fine–as you were. For the YouTubers though, I have created a playlist called The Complete Katie Melua. It does just What It Says On The Tin. It contains 263 songs (and counting...) so whether you want to have a serious Katiethon session or just hit shuffle for a daily Katie fix is up to you. And remember, if there is a video available for the song you can dive into it at any point by touching a button on the screen. Enjoy! (Click the pic to go to the playlist on YouTube Music.)
18.01.23 > Golden Record
"Golden Record", the new single from the upcoming Love & Money album, is streaming now.
Click to listen on YouTube Music
Click to listen on Spotify
Click to watch the official video
13.01.23 > Love & Money Release Date
Katie's new album, Love & Money, will be released on March 24th. You can pre-order NOW at Katie's online store.
Here is the track listing:
1. Golden Record
2. Quiet Moves
3. 14 Windows
4. Lie In The Heat
5. Darling Star
6. Reefs
7. First Date
8. Pick Me Up
9. Those Sweet Days
10. Love & Money
Check out the new single, Golden Record, on 
12.01.23 > Katie's Track Quiz
Katie has been teasing us on social media again. She has set a challenge to guess the track names of her latest album, Love & Money, based on emoji clues. Now if you were a fan of Catchphrase this could be right up your street. Personally, I found the advice "say what you see" pretty unhelpful since I never seemed to be seeing what everyone else was seeing. Somehow I doubt that track 8 is entitled "Ice pick waving girl upwards". I'm sure you can do better than that so feel free to have a go. Or, just wait a bit longer until the album details are released 😃
Here are my guesses. I don't expect them all to be right.
1. DVD
2. Ponderous Jogger
3. One For Windows
4. Big Nose Into The Fire
5. Baby-faced Sheriff
6. Orange Squiggles
7. One Pair Of Lovers
8. Ice Pick Waving Girl Upwards
9. Toffee Calendar
10. Heart Ampersand Dollar
11.01.23 > New Single: Golden Record
Tomorrow sees the release and first airing of "Golden Record", the new single from the upcoming Love & Money album. Click here for the link.
08.01.23 > Katie Bite: Tbilisi Airport
02.01.23 > Review of 2022
2022 may have been a fairly horrid year in global terms, for reasons I mentioned in my Christmas message, but for Ketefans it actually turned out to be a pretty good year. Katie is normally off the radar in January but this year we had something to keep us going in the form of The Detail, her podcast with friend Polly Scattergood. This weekly dose, which began late in 2021, was never less than fascinating to listen to. Series 2 was said to be in the works but so far there is no further word on when it will drop so all we can do is wait and hope.
February began with a lovely performance from Katie for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room season. It was particularly noteable for her cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. If you go to the blog entry for 5th February you can listen to her performances and her chat with Ken Bruce.
March was a quiet month as we were all digesting the awful events unfolding in Ukraine. In April though, there was more to keep us happy. Katie announced a project in collaboration with Oxford University, called The Silk Roads Project. It was a one-off musical performance involving students and young people as well as the BBC Concert Orchestra. Details also began to emerge of some welcome summer concerts in Europe, though the wait would have to go on for UK fans. On a personal level, mid way through the month I was elated to finally have my first “Katie Melua” tulips blooming in my garden after a search that had taken years. Katie had a lovely conversation with Vikas Shah for his ThoughtEconomics website. Then, towards the end of the month, we heard about a new album to arrive in the summer, Aerial Objects. It was to be a collaboration with Simon Goff, best known for his ambient violin music. This news was music to our ears even though it came with a warning of being unlike anything Katie had done before. We trust her enough that we were all excited anyway.
May was another quiet month before the beginning of June brought the first single from the new album. It was called Hotel Stamba (after a Hotel in Tbilisi) and fair to say it blew our minds. Any fears Katie may have had about fans not liking it were soon dispelled. We loved it. Katie also announced she would feature on a track for William Orbit’s new album, The Painter, slated for an August release. Orbit is something of a legend in the industry, and produced Katie’s fourth album, The House. His new album would also feature a collaboration with Polly Scattergood. The second track and video from Aerial Objects dropped towards the end of the month. Textures Of Memories did not disappoint either. Excitement was bubbling over for the full album release.
Meanwhile, Bad Katie was keeping a low profile this year but she did escape for a while for another episode of mayhem in July, entitled “When Bad Katie Met Bob”. Who knows when we shall see her again. But the big news of July was the release of Aerial Objects. It was every bit as wonderful as we’d hoped. Despite appearing in the seventh month of the year, it would go on to become my most listened to album of the year when Spotify released their annual reports in December.
August saw Katie on the road again at last, with a 6-date tour of Germany. It was so lovely for her to be playing live again after a couple of years of covid nightmare. And Germany won the jackpot again in September when Katie and Simon Goff gave a one-off performance of Aerial Objects in Berlin. Such a shame more fans couldn’t get to experience these wonderful songs live. Indeed, many fans are still waiting to hear songs from Album No. 8 live. It has been a difficult couple of years for all.
In September the world changed. The death of Queen Elizabeth II was so unexpected, despite her great age, and most of the population had never known another monarch. She was like the mother of the nation and her loss left the UK feeling like a rudderless ship. Her Majesty loved Katie and they met a number of times. I’m sure Katie and her family felt very proud of that and it must have been a source of comfort for Katie to know she gave so much pleasure to such a special lady.
October saw the 5th anniversary of AllAboutKatie. It was a personal project of mine for some time before that, keeping my web skills honed on a subject close to my heart, but eventually I realised that Katie didn’t have a good English fan site and she really deserved one so it was time to go online and share the site with the world. Five years have passed so quickly! There have been a few disruptive changes in my personal life but my desire to keep AAK going remains and as long as Katie keeps producing music I hope to keep supporting her through this web site.
November saw the second surprise album announcement of the year. Katie is spoiling us now! Love & Money will be released next spring along with her much-anticipated return to UK live shows in May. 2023 is already looking like a much better year just because of the announcement of that album and tour. Finally, we have something to look forward to amidst the general gloom and doom of news this year has brought.
Katie had one last piece of good news to share with us in December, announcing the birth of her first son, Sandro. I’m sure you will all join me in sending love and best wishes to mother and son but I want to take this opportunity to urge everyone to respect Katie’s private life and resist hounding her for more details on social media. She will share what she is inclined to and we should ask no more of her than that.
So, with 2023 now firmly under way and 2022 decidedly consigned to the past, I wish you all a wonderful New Year. Hope to see some of you at the live shows this year!
01.01.23 > Happy New Year!
