{"id":523863,"date":"2026-04-10T19:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523863\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:18:08","slug":"ive-learned-to-appreciate-the-beauty-in-not-knowing-what-im-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523863\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve learned to appreciate the beauty in not knowing what I\u2019m doing"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Lime Garden<\/a> release their effervescent new album \u2018Maybe Not Tonight\u2019, frontwoman Chloe Howard has spoken to NME about surviving your early 20s, body positivity and measuring expectations.<\/p>\n

Out today (Friday April 10), \u2018Maybe Not Tonight\u2019 comes after the Brighton four-piece\u2019s acclaimed 2024 debut \u2018One More Thing<\/a>\u2018 and follows the arc of all the ups and downs of a night out, questioning grief, self-esteem and the consequences of our actions over a banging indie soundtrack.<\/p>\n

The album was launched with the title track, presenting \u201ca woman on the edge of making all the wrong choices, it feels like getting punched in the face with the morning after a night out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about accepting the consequences of those choices, but making this album has made me learn to embrace living a bit more,\u201d Howard told NME. \u201cEnjoy the moment \u2013 what will be, will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cIt was important to show the realistic side of self-destructive fun behaviour. We have a lot of fun and go out a lot, but of course there are some downsides to that. It was fun to play on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard said the album was best captured by the dancefloor ready \u2018All Bad Parts\u2019, relaying the band\u2019s knack for \u201cturning a pretty bad time in our lives into something fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Another single that\u2019s been dominating indie radio airwaves is \u201923\u2019 \u2013 a devastating self-reckoning about life in your 20s not being quite as you\u2019d imagined as Howard mourns: \u201cAt 17 I had the world in my hands and at 23 I just lost it\/Something about the fact I\u2019m losing my edge I\u2019m getting further away from a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a nightmare where I was talking to my 17-year-old self and she was giving me a hard time about where I was in life,\u201d she told NME. \u201cI thought that would be a fun situation to write about, but in general I am quite hard on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what did her 17-year-old self expect of her?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she thought I\u2019d have a Lamborghini and a stable income by now, but hey \u2013 it\u2019s 2026!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair enough. After all, the anxiety and fear of your mid-20s is hard enough without being heightened by modern pressures.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery 23-year-old would say it\u2019s the hardest for them,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in your early 20s you think the world revolves around you, and that\u2019ll be the same for every generation ever. But I do think with social media, the element of comparison is stronger than ever. We\u2019re all insane at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The work to be creative while constantly being judged online, as well as what already comes with everyday life, also fed into the album. \u201cI hate the way my body looks too, if that helps, but it won\u2019t,\u201d Howard sings on \u2018Body\u2019. \u201cI hate the way I\u2019m looking at you, you look so beautiful\u2026I\u2019m jealous, and I blame you for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a weird position because we\u2019re in a band,\u201d said Howard, explaining the song. \u201cWe see way too many photos of ourselves. No human should see that many photos of themselves. We\u2019re young women and people are mean online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about being open about that and being a bit more vulnerable. Our conversations about that definitely bled into the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Maybe Not Tonight\u2019 was also written during a period of collective \u201cmass breakup\u201d among the band, feeding into the ethos of tracks like \u2018Body\u2019, \u2018Lifestyle\u2019 and \u2018All Bad Parts\u2019 facing up to uncomfortable truths to make sense of of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a studio in Peckham and we\u2019re there every Tuesday and Wednesday,\u201d Howard said. \u201cOur writing time became a therapy session for each other. It was very cathartic. We would scream and cry together, and then we\u2019d go out together. The whole album and writing process was fuelled by those emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the album is a process of working through anxieties, fears, traumas and one\u2019s own choices and mistakes, or as Howard put it, \u201cYou have to actually face up to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for advice for others facing the fear and fog of those twenty-something years, Howard shared: \u201cJust embrace it. I\u2019ve learned to appreciate the beauty in not knowing where I am or what I\u2019m doing and just rolling with the chaos. \u2018Embrace the chaos\u2019, is what I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Maybe Not Tonight\u2019 is out now. Their 2026 headline tour dates are below. Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n

Lime Garden 2026 tour dates are:<\/p>\n

OCTOBER
2 \u2013 Bristol, Electric Bristol
5 \u2013 Oxford, The Bullingdon
6 \u2013 Cambridge, Junction 1
9 \u2013 Birkenhead, Future Yard
10 \u2013 Leeds, Stylus
12 \u2013 Newcastle, The Grove
13 \u2013 Edinburgh, Mash House
14 \u2013 Glasgow, Mono
16 \u2013 Manchester, Gorilla
17 \u2013 Nottingham, Rescue Rooms\u00a0
18 \u2013 Norwich, Waterfront
20 \u2013 Birmingham, Castle & Falcon
21 \u2013 London, Electric Brixton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Lime Garden release their effervescent new album \u2018Maybe Not Tonight\u2019, frontwoman Chloe Howard has spoken to NME…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,3583,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-523863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}