Song-by-Song: ‘Bloom’ by Hattie Whitehead

Hattie Whitehead: “As with many songs, these lyrics that started life as a message of support to a friend fast became a mantra to myself too.” Photo: Carolina Faruolo

Songs about grief, greed, gender equality, mental health and more make up this bewitching debut album, as the singer-songwriter reveals

Starting with 2015’s Home, the last decade has seen singer-songwriter Hattie Whitehead release a trio of EPs. Each one a showcase for her lyrical honesty and mirror-bright vocal style, they can be seen as steps on the ladder leading to her debut album, Bloom. Produced by John Reynolds, the album explores personal grief, mental health, and societal issues. Its introspective songs draw from her mother’s death, while also addressing broader themes of self-acceptance, emotional survival, and societal struggles. Released earlier this month, nods to both the jazz and folk influences of her upbringing can be heard throughout. We asked Whitehead to tell us a little more about the inspirations behind the album’s 11 songs…

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ALIVE

Since beginning to navigate the grieving process, I have reflected a lot on mental health and what that means. People so often associate being mentally healthy with being happy. For me, mental health is allowing the full spectrum of emotions that come with life, each feeling as important as the next, coming together to form a colourful existence and a unique identity.

Alive is about wanting to experience all the highs and lows that life brings, and share the full picture with another person, rather than floating along in one dimension. It is about wanting to know the intricacies of a loved one’s personality, to be able to share your own, and to be loved and seen as you are without pretence. To me, this is the true meaning of being alive.

VALENTINE

The pandemic brought up lots of thinking about family, generations and home for me. I wrote Valentine in the run up to moving house and creating a new home with my partner. This moment felt hugely significant, being the first time we had carved out something that was shared between us as a unit.

We were moving into a blank space which we would cover in our shared identity. It felt grown up and we were transitioning from the child generation to fully-fledged adults (or so we thought!). I had a sudden clarity and appreciation for what we had carved out for ourselves, moving through life with love and compassion, taking our time, seeking joy and empowering each other. In essence, Valentine is a love song about growth, compassion and home (not to mention being the proud new owner of a kitchen sink).

IF YOU HIDE

This song started its life as a message to a friend, encouraging them not to hide themselves away from others. ‘Nobody’s going to see you if you hide’ is the message – you won’t bloom in the way that you want to. I felt very conscious of the fact that in the short term, it is often easier to hold back, to ‘placate and keep it in,’ but this feeds a cycle of inaction and long-term suffering. As with many songs, these lyrics that started life as a message of support to a friend fast became a mantra to myself too.

MACHINE

Machine is an ode to selfish, power-hungry people. It was originally written in the run-up to a general election, where I was feeling sickened by capitalism and the Tories! I couldn’t comprehend that it wasn’t the priority for everyone to care for every member of our society.

Money was being prioritised over care for human beings and financial growth was the driving force behind Boris Johnson’s campaign. I created a daydream situation where I envisaged those fuelled by greed rising to the top to find themselves alone having cast everyone aside in their pursuit of power. ‘On your throne alone, you’ll die,’ pretty much sums up the sentiment!

Hattie Whitehead: “I was angry that there is still so far to go in regard to gender equality.” Photo: Carolina Faruolo

IN THE RAIN

I went for a run on a very rainy and miserable day during the lockdown. I ran past a couple, and as I was passing, the man started shouting at me for not leaving enough distance between us. It made me feel incredibly sad for humans – that this was what we had become. I ran home, angry, upset, frustrated with the greed and lack of compassion in the world, and wrote In The Rain – an explosion of my anger as a woman in a male-dominated world.

I was angry that I had been conditioned by society not to express this anger, that women have been suppressed for so long and are expected to be delicate and gentle. I was angry that there is still so far to go in regard to gender equality. The song became my opportunity for freedom in expression, to be all the versions of myself and to realise my power in expressing the sides of me that are societally discouraged in women.

THE LAST TO COME ALONG

A song for the last member of my family to come along – my brother. The message of this song, written for his birthday, is that he can be whoever he wants to be. His bloom above ground will come from the foundation of his family roots, but will develop in his own unique way. It’s a song about acknowledging what your past and your roots are but without letting them overshadow and dominate the new person that you are. ‘Without the branches, the roots, there’s no bloom.’

DISTANCE

Distance is about watching someone go through difficulty in their mental health. It’s about watching the changes and feeling their absence and lack of grounding whilst wanting to be seen and acknowledged by them, missing them and feeling desperate for them to meet somewhere in the middle, where there is mutual love and support.

TOO MUCH TO WRITE

This song is about allyship. It’s about the silence that perpetuates oppression; the inaction born out of a fear of getting things wrong. The song was an expression of the sadness and desire to learn and be a better ally that overwhelmed me during the Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd. The sentiment behind the song is that silence and inaction feed oppression, and the fear that fuels this needs to be faced in order to grow and bring about change.

‘Take the route your mother laid, and correct on the way’ – come from a place of love and compassion, and strive to develop, improve and grow along the way with humility.

Hattie Whitehead: “I became aware of the hold that my mental health had taken over my perception of life and loved ones.” Photo: Carolina Faruolo

SIT AND WAIT

This is the only song from the album that I wrote before losing my mum. I wrote it just after she was diagnosed with cancer. It’s about needing the support of a mother in the wake of receiving bad news, whilst also recognising that she wasn’t able to provide that. The song is an expression of the fear of the unknown, the worry and the loneliness of dealing with life-changing news.

YOU TELL ME SO

This song is about depression. I wrote it in a time where I had taken a step back to assess what was going on in my mind. I became aware of the hold that my mental health had taken over my perception of life and loved ones. It was written at the turning point, as the process of writing it helped me to appreciate and feel a refreshed gratitude for all that I had been neglecting for some time, but it also highlighted the heaviness and shame that I felt I had been carrying around for a long time.

NO MAN’S LAND

Broadly speaking, the message of No Man’s Land is that we need space in our busy lives to process difficult experiences and emotions. We need moments of quiet in order to feel our way through the great upheavals in life. The song came to me in response to my journey with grief. After a couple of years processing my mum’s death, I began to understand that in order to grow through grieving, I needed pauses in my everyday life to allow the memory of my mum in and to process what a life without her physical presence looked like.

There is an ancient Japanese art form called Kintsugi, where broken pottery is embraced and elevated to something even more beautiful than it previously was by repairing along the cracks with gold. This was partly what inspired the sentiment and lyrics in No Man’s Land. I find the idea that you grow around your grief really comforting. You evolve and become stronger as a result of your heartbreak. The damage leads to a much more unique and powerful beauty that is an important part of your identity, as it is with the broken pieces of pottery.

Bloom is out now and you can find out more about Hattie Whitehead, including upcoming live shows, by visiting hattiewhitehead.com

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