Take That star Gary Barlow is back with his fifth album Music Played by Humans.
The singer launched the record this week with lead single Elita, featuring swing sensation Michael Bublé and Colombian singer-songwriter Sebastián Yatra.
“My ambition was to create something really bright, a celebration of music and the wonderful musicians we have in the UK and around the world,” he said of the record.
“Some of it is recorded with an orchestra, some with quartets, a Latin band, and some of the tracks have jazz and big band sections,” Gary explains. “It really is music played by people, hence the title of the album.”
Bublé and Yatra aren’t the only guest stars on the album – Alesha Dixon, Beverley Knight, Barry Manilow, James Corden, Ibrahim Maalouf, Chilly Gonzales and Avishai Cohen also appear on the record.
“This is the first album I have made that’s really given me the opportunity to collaborate with this calibre of musicians on my songs, and they’re all so different in their own right,” the Shame hitmaker adds.
The star finished work on the album “ten weeks before lockdown” and he admits the sessions left him with “some great memories”.
“Looking back, little did I realise how poignant this album would be in a time when orchestras can’t sit in a room together,” he smiles. “We have some of the best musicians in the world in London and they are on my recordings — I’m so lucky.”
Pre-order Music Played By Humans on download, CD and vinyl now.
