The musician talks to DIVA about her new album, getting enGAYged and the state of the world
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY PRESS
Two years ago, Grace Petrie’s Connectivity broke into the Top 40 and debuted at number one in the UK download chart. Since then, this DIVA favourite has been singing across main stages across the globe. And now she’s back with a new album, Build Something Better. It’s angry, it’s raw and it’s sure to strike a chord with many in our current climate. The album is out today, and it’s already been on repeat all day at DIVA HQ.
We spoke with Grace ahead of the release and here’s what she had to say…
DIVA: When you last spoke with DIVA, you had jumped into the world of comedy with Butch Ado About Nothing. How has life been since then?
GRACE: Touring Butch was awesome! I had some amazing conversations with queer folks especially who resonated with the experience of the show. But it was nice to get back to music and throw myself into recording this album. It was produced by Frank Turner and he was a real joy to work with so the recording process was a lot of fun for me, and I’m absolutely made up with the result. I also got engaged last year, so it’s great news for me on the personal front and bad news for fans of my heartbreak songs.
Can you tell me about when you knew you had to make Build Something Better?
It’s been brewing for a couple of years; my last record was less political than what folks might know me for, and once that more introspective album was out of my system I felt the protest songs really starting to fight to get out of me. The revolving door PM parade of Johnson/Truss/Sunak with each one of them seemingly intent on leaving more devastation in their wake gave me a lot to sing – or even shout – about. From climate change to the withdrawing of abortion rights to raw sewage being pumped into our oceans I found myself just full of an anger I needed to put into songs and the result is probably my most political record.
2024 has already been full of political upheaval. I’m sure Build Something Better is going to strike a chord with many. What do you hope people take away from it?
I said to my fiancé, the poet and writer Molly Naylor, who’s performing on this tour with me, that I was struggling to write songs because the only thing I had to say was “everything is terrible and I don’t know how to make it better”. And she said the thing to bear in mind is that a lot of people feel like that, and there is comfort in feeling you’re not alone. So often we live with these unbearable levels of cruelty and avoidable suffering, the costs of a broken capitalism out of control, and the most disconcerting thing about it is the fact that everyone in power is treating it like it’s normal. It sounds strange, but even pointing out those things feels like a radical act right now. I want people to feel less alone. Less crazy for looking around and going “It’s not just me, right? This is all fucked”. Because it’s not just you.
Your identity has always informed your work. How do you think it has impacted this new album?
There’s a song on this record called Meanwhile In Texas, and that’s a feminist song about abortion access in America. I found the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade really devastating. I look around at the things women have fought for and it feels like we never stop fighting the same battles. And meanwhile, some of the most powerful women in the world would rather whip up transphobia than address the real misogyny at the heart of the decision to withdraw abortion rights in the states. So in that way I guess my identity as a woman and a lesbian are reflected there; and I also think I’m at a point in my life that I’m wrestling with different facets of my identity. There’s obviously my identity as a feminist, a woman and a queer person, but there’s also my identity as a millennial, now in my late 30s, looking around at the society I desperately hoped and once firmly believed we could change, and I’m 15 years into singing songs about it all when things have only gotten worse and more divided. Someone called the album a “state of the nation address” and I like that. Looking around at where we are, who we are, where we go next.
Do you have a favourite track from the album? And is there one you think will particularly resonate with DIVA readers?
My favourite is Fixer Upper – that’s where the title of the album came from. I got the idea when I was doing endless decorating – we bought our first house last year and it definitely turned out to be more of a fixer upper than we thought when we viewed it! I was thinking about the world and the state it’s in, and I got the idea for this line: “we might still have time to build something better from the parts”. What self-respecting DIVA reader wouldn’t relate to a good bit of DIY content?!
What was it like working with Frank Turner on this one?
He’s a sweetie! I normally hate recording because I find the process of deconstructing everything and putting it under a magnifying glass really laborious and I think my brain doesn’t really work that way. Frank is all about that process – he loves the nuts and bolts side of it, so it was amazing to give him the raw demos of these songs and see him interpret them in ways I wouldn’t have even thought to. I’ve been saying on stage that when I left his place after recording my acoustic guitars and vocals, it was a folk album, and when I came back a week later he’d made it a punk record! That’s not in any way a complaint; it’s the perfect sound for the rage of these songs and he was the first and last choice for me to make it with.
Are you working on any other projects you can tell DIVA readers about?
Plenty of irons in the fire; hoping for another comedy show for 2025 and I have a bunch of old albums that I’m planning a Taylor Swift-style re-recording project for, starting later this year.
Build Something Better by Grace Petrie is out now.
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