Jane McDonald credits writing songs for her new album ‘Let The Light In’ for helping her grieve the loss of her mum.
The singer returns on August 20 with her 10th studio album, featuring re-recorded songs from her past LPs, covers performed during her live shows and new tracks.
Among the new cuts is You Still Lead Me, which Jane says was written in the wake of her mother Jean’s passing.
“I wrote The Hand That Leads Me for my mum 25 years ago and it’s become such a fan-favourite,” explains the star in a documentary short.
“When my mother passed away, and I dusted the piano off and sat [down to play], I looked up and I’ve got a big picture of my mother looking down at the piano.
“I had no idea that I’d done that; I just put it on the wall, not realising that it was overlooking my piano.
“When I started to play, I looked at my mum and I thought, ‘You’re still leading me, aren’t you…’. And that was it, I thought You Still Lead Me.”
She adds: “This is a sequel to The Hand That Leads Me… and it helped me grieve. Because I’d been so busy since the passing of my mother, that I hadn’t actually had the quiet time to sit down.
“I tend to put everything into songs and I think… it helped me, and I think it’ll help a lot of other people who are going through the same.
“It’s all about love never dying, the fear that you have of never seeing them again, and I hope people release when they hear it.”
You Still Lead Me is one of three new tracks on ‘Let The Light In’, along with You Don’t Know What You Got and You & I Could. It also includes an acoustic version of The Hand That Leads Me and a piano session recording of You’re My World.
Among the covers on the LP are ‘The Greatest Showman’ tunes This Is Me and Never Enough, and Shallow from ‘A Star is Born’.
The new album is the Jane’s first since 2020’s ‘Cruising with Jane McDonald Volume 2‘, featuring songs from her hit Channel 5 series, including Let’s Get loud, Mamma Mia and Ray of Light.
It also follows the devastating loss of her partner Ed Rothe, who passed away following a battle with lung cancer earlier this year.
‘Let The Light In’ is out August 20 and available to pre-order now.
