Joan Armatrading - How Did This Happen and What Does It Mean?

  by Zena Grieg

published: 1 / 2 / 2025

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Review

Following the creation of her first ever orchestral piece, ‘Symphony No.1’, performed in 2023 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s South Bank, iconic, Ivor Novello-winning, Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading has brought out her twenty-first studio album, an impressive milestone in a career spanning over fifty years. ‘How Does This Happen And What Does It Mean?’, written, produced and engineered by Armatrading in her home studio, is a vibrant mix of pop, rock and power ballads interspersed with two instrumentals, Armatrading playing an array of different instruments herself, the songs underscored by her trademark confessional lyrics and emotional intensity. The album title is a reflection of how Armatrading feels the world is now: “You can apply it to just about anything…Some of the things we’re going through, and some of the things we can say and can’t say, and can and can’t do – how on earth do we get to this place, and what does it now mean? Where are we going to go now?” Highlights of this twelve-track collection include: the upbeat opener, disco-pop ’25 Kisses’; revenge song on a two-timing lover ‘Someone Else’, with its distorted guitars and infectious chorus; piano-led ‘Irresistible’, putting the focus on Armatrading’s powerful vocals; catchy lead single ‘I’m Not Moving’, inspired by witnessing confrontational behaviour, transmuted in the song into acts of defiance (the video capturing a Hitchcock-like cameo by Armatrading); the dramatic ‘Come Back To Me (If Only In Dreams)’ with its rousing orchestral arrangement; the sparse ‘Here’s What I Know’ with its gospel-style backing; the jazzy instrumental ‘Now What’ with Armatrading’s Santana-esque guitar; and the plaintive blues-inspired closer ‘I Gave You My Keys’. Layered with perceptive observational lyrics and spiced with some unexpected sound turns, ‘How Did This Happen And What Does It Mean?’ is an innovative return to familiar ground.

Track Listing:-

1 25 Kisses
2 Someone Else
3 Irresistible
4 I’m Not Moving
5 Say It Tomorrow
6 Back And Forth
7 Come Back To Me (If Only In Dreams)
8 Here’s What I Know
9 Redemption Love
10 How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean
11 Now What
12 I Gave You My Keys

Band Links:-

http://www.joanarmatrading.com/
https://www.facebook.com/joanarmatradi
https://twitter.com/armatradingjoan
https://www.instagram.com/joan_armatra

Label Links:-

https://www.bmg.com/uk/
https://www.facebook.com/BMGRM
https://twitter.com/BMG
https://www.facebook.com/bmgchrysalisu
https://twitter.com/bmguk

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