\u201cThere was definitely a point where I was like, \u2018I have to talk about what\u2019s happened,\u2019\u201d the 31-year-old tells me. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re a singer, there\u2019s something really important about the throat chakra being opened.\u201d She cites Dr Gabor Mat\u00e9, who has explored the connection between chronic stress symptoms among women \u2013 who account for 80 per cent of autoimmune disease cases \u2013 and a culture that tells them to be agreeable, compliant and, most crucially, quiet. \u201cWhen I went into certain situations in the studio, I felt like I wasn\u2019t really able to assert my own voice and my own vision,\u201d Celeste says. She saw a video recently of another female artist expressing herself freely in the studio: \u201cAnd I was thinking, I didn\u2019t really get that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even without listening to her excellent 2021 debut, Not Your Muse<\/a>, many will have heard her smoky vibrato on songs such as her 2019 breakthrough \u201cStrange\u201d, which helped her land the Brit Rising Star Award. The following year, her song \u201cA Little Love\u201d featured in the John Lewis Christmas advert, while her soaring anthem \u201cStop This Flame\u201d was used relentlessly by Sky Sports for its Premier League coverage. \u201cHear My Voice\u201d, from the soundtrack of Aaron Sorkin\u2019s film The Trial of the Chicago 7, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her spine-tingling track \u201cThis Is Who I Am\u201d, meanwhile, was the scene-setter for Eddie Redmayne\u2019<\/a>s 2024 hitman series The Day of the Jackal, based on the Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name. <\/p>\n In spite of all these achievements and accolades, she was nervous about releasing Woman of Faces \u2013 in part because of the behind-the-scenes tumult, but also because the majority of the songs were written three years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s existed for quite a long time, and sometimes you lose a sense of if it\u2019s good [or not],\u201d she says. We\u2019re speaking over video call; Celeste is fighting jet lag from her kitchen at home in London, but is still warm and engaging. I admire the satin striped sofa behind her as she fidgets with the sleeves of her shirt. When I ask her a question, she gives lengthy, considered answers, as though there\u2019s so much she\u2019s wanted to get off her chest and she\u2019s only now finding an opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose what I said is just truthful of what my experience has been in the last year,\u201d she says. Feeling pressured to post more content online, something she mentioned in her Instagram posts, was \u201ckind of the final straw\u201d, while she also felt unhappy at a perceived imbalance between the support she received for her debut and this record. Following those posts, she says, she\u2019s now spoken with people at her label, Polydor, and a \u201cgradual process of figuring things out\u201d is underway. A representative for the label says: \u201cWe\u2019ve adored working with Celeste over the last few years and are really excited about her new record. Like all our artists, we want Celeste to succeed and have a great partnership with us. We\u2019re thinking about how to make sure we\u2019re the right partner for her going forward, so she can continue to share her incredible music with her fans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not having a breakdown right now \u2013 I actually feel really good about it all,\u201d Celeste says, offering a small smile. \u201c[But] if I\u2019d left it longer… it takes the life out of you. There\u2019s a sort of emotional warfare that goes on… [It can be] exhausting having to fight for yourself to be heard.\u201d She\u2019s found herself questioning why she sees other female artists \u2013 we talk at length about Rosal\u00eda\u2019s feted and ambitious record, Lux \u2013 seemingly free to create art that is challenging and adventurous. Woman of Faces is unquestionably a superb album, too \u2013 her best, in fact \u2013 and one on which the themes of identity and self-worth burn bright. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Celeste: \u2018I\u2019m not having a breakdown right now \u2013 I actually feel really good about it all\u2019 (Erika Kamano)<\/p>\n Opener \u201cOn with the Show\u201d was written during a low point, evident from the way she sings in a weary, defeated murmur: \u201cAnd so\/ Got a feeling I should go\/ Got a little bit of sense left\/ Know you took most of that.\u201d Waltzing piano notes spin her around a grim carousel, as military-style drums signal the death knell for a relationship. There\u2019s an old Hollywood grandeur to songs such as \u201cKeep Smiling\u201d, which I tell her reminds me of Nancy Sinatra\u2019s \u201cBang Bang\u201d \u2013 that same silky danger lingering in swooning strings and slowly picked guitars. \u201cI remember hearing that when I was 15 and thinking, \u2018I like the way she holds it,\u2019\u201d Celeste says. \u201cIt\u2019s mysterious, and it\u2019s sexy and a bit deranged, but there\u2019s still a sense of, like, a strong person.\u201d<\/p>\n Celeste is, clearly, a strong person. A proud self-taught musician, she was born Celeste Waite to a Jamaican father and a Dagenham-raised mother in LA, then moved to the UK aged three, after her parents split. Growing up in her grandmother\u2019s house in artsy, middle-class Brighton, she was exposed to a predominantly white music scene that shaped her early influences. Perhaps in response to this, she created worlds within her own music that offered escapism, Alice-in-Wonderland style. Woman of Faces, though, is more about finding the strength to \u201ccome back to exist as yourself again, finding this integrity in what you do\u201d. She seems struck by an observation I make about recent albums by female artists, Rosal\u00eda\u2019s among them, that explore how women are often forced to \u201cchoose\u201d between their career and their romantic life \u2013 I sense the same with her latest work.<\/p>\n \u2018Woman of Faces\u2019 is about coming back to exist as yourself again, finding this integrity in what you do<\/p>\n \u201cWoman of Faces absolutely speaks about that moment where you feel like you\u2019ve lost your footing in the industry because of other things that are going on in your life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really difficult situation to navigate, because ultimately, I think, when you\u2019re in this position where you are determined [about] the degree of success you want… it demands all of you, and you don\u2019t really have much of a choice not to give all of yourself to your music and to your performance.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Celeste:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/000038700010__colour-(1).jpeg\")
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