Jamie Drake Releases New Album 'New Girl'

Today singer-songwriter Jamie Drake releases her new album New Girl via AntiFragile Music. She is also sharing the video for the LP's "Its A New Life" and says:

"These last few years I've been on an inward journey that led me to Lisboa, Portugal, last fall. I can hardly believe what happened, and I'm happy I have this gorgeous music video - serendipitously made with an old friend who had just moved there - as proof!

During the pandemic I discovered a recovery program called 'Adult Children of Alcoholics,' which helped me uncover my inner child and taught me how to give myself the love I didn't receive. Along with this, I learned to listen to my intuition, which has since set my life on a course filled with magic and adventure. Part of that adventure was meeting and writing this song with Rich Jaques, who would later become my producer for the album. The lyrics, 'It's a new life, and it's all mine' mean I get to say "YES" to myself, and I get to say "No" to anyone who wants to treat me in an unhealthy way. "I'm in love when I say goodbye" means I am living in the energy of love as a result of saying goodbye to my old self (i.e. the little girl who'd been taught she didn't deserve love) and my inner, loving parent gets to integrate her back into my adult life in the present.

A note on Lisbon: I had dinner with Brandon Dickerson and his wife, who I hadn't seen in over a decade, on one of my last nights there. Forgetting that Brandon was an actual film director, I randomly said, "Gosh, I wish I could have made a music video HERE!" Brandon immediately said, "Let's DO it!" And I said, "YES!!" For my last few nights there I had decided to stay in a gorgeous bnb (that looked like the set for a Wes Anderson film) with a French couple who made me breakfast every morning. The morning of the shoot - and my last day there - I simply asked my host, "By the way, I'm shooting a music video today and I was wondering if we might be able to use your apartment as a location?" Remi not only said "Yes," but his partner also let me wear some of his handmade jewelry! The result was this completely magical day shooting with Brandon in the apartment and on the streets of Lisbon without a crew; only the tools we both had from having been in the music video industry. The experience taught me to keep trusting my gut, and to keep saying "YES" to life's gifts, just waiting to be plucked from the proverbial tree."

Leading to the release of New Girl Jamie has shared a handful of singles - "Is There Something Wrong With Me?," the album's title track "New Girl," "Beginnings" and "Easy Target" - which have seen support from ET Online, Consequence, Femmusic, Americana Highways, Ghettoblaster, and more.

One of LA's best-kept musical songwriting secrets for over a decade -- collaborating with the likes of Sondre Lerche, Jim James, Moby, Sarah and Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), and Mikael Jorgensen (Wilco) - Drake moved to the front of the stage with the 2019 release of her debut album Everything's Fine (AntiFragile Music). The album, peppered with indie-folk-pop stylings wrapped in lush orchestrations, drew critical praise from around the world.

On New Girl, the sophomore album coming from Drake, her love for early 1970s Laurel Canyon folk unexpectedly meets Rio de Janeiro. Across the LP's 11 tracks, the listener finds a raw and emotionally brave follow-up that once again displays her ability to evolve as a dynamic artist.

New Girl's bossa influence came as a surprise - inspired by Getz/Gilberto '76, the live album by Stan Getz and João Gilberto, which Jamie discovered for the first time in 2020 while living in upper Ojai, California. "I listened to it every day while riding my bike around Meiners Oaks with my dog Moxie and a JBL speaker in the basket. I knew those songs had gotten into my marrow when I met and wrote 'It's A New Life' with (producer) Rich Jacques as it's the first song I've ever written with a bossa feeling to it. I knew I would make my next album with him after that. The feeling of that song was the world I wanted to keep living in musically."

In the fall of 2021 Jamie and Rich reconvened along with artist and multi-instrumentalist Austin Myles Grant to start working on the new album. The trio was invited to record at a private residence set in the Santa Monica mountains. Seeped in the quiet of nature, they could fully unfurl and connect musically. In two weeks, New Girl was born.

This purity and connection can be felt in the recordings. Drake bravely asks one of the most human questions in "Is There Something Wrong with Me?" And contemplates that "life feels undeserving when the whole world is hurting," synthesizing the guilt many felt across the globe in early 2020 with clarity while still maintaining hope and purpose in "When John Prine Died." These heartfelt tracks are magnificently balanced by other offerings like the comically recorded Bossa influenced, "New Girl," which depicts Jamie's gypsy-like childhood with a twinkle in her eye. And then there's "Sing," a song that can lift the heart of the listener into a fantasia of imagination and wonder not unlike Julie Andrews. It's this childlike awe Drake maintains that draws even the youngest of fans to her. Hits like "Easy Target," remind us of Carol King in "It's Too Late," and feel as if it was recorded around the same time. The album becomes hypnotic with "It's A New Life," which takes us to a world where Drake's vocals feel like a cross between Astrud Gilberto and Sade. "Lifted by Love" and "It's A Wonderful Life" bring the listener to their heart center where anything is possible and the world is still filled with hope and wonder.

New Girl is also informed by Jamie's discovery of ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families) which she credits for changing her life. Through that work and a trip she made to North Carolina to be near her family during the pandemic, Jamie has found herself healing old wounds. She shares, "Music's always felt like a mysterious, second language to me. A melody will fall down from the sky when I'm driving or in the shower, and I'll record a voice memo on my phone so I don't forget it. Lyrics don't come as easily to me but they're always biographical. It's difficult for me to have the desire to write a song if it's not personal."

Taken wholly, New Girl is melded together by Jamie's mesmerizing and unique vocal melodies and songwriting, bringing a fresh perspective on Folk and Bossa Nova that is uniquely her own.

Listen to the new album here:

Watch the official music video here:

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