Release Info

Young Heart is the fourth studio album by British musician Birdy, released on 30 April 2021 through Atlantic Records. Before writing for the album began, Birdy suffered from a breakup and looked to the music of Etta James and Nina Simone for emotional support. To get inspiration for writing and to shake the sadness of the breakup, Birdy took a three-month hiatus to India with her sister, cousin, and their friend before staying in a log cabin in Topanga, California for inspiration. Staying in the cabin gave the album a "kind of Laurel Canyon, seventies-like feel" according to Birdy. The result is what she calls a "heartbreak album" inspired by the Joni Mitchell album Blue. The first track written for Young Heart was the title track "Young Heart" which acts as the "core of the record" and is the "most emotionally charged song" for Birdy. The track "Loneliness" in contrast was originally written for 2016's Beautiful Lies but was set aside at the time for not fitting into that album. In a departure from the "big production" of the previous album, Birdy said that Young Heart is "quite stripped back – anything that didn't need to be there, isn't. There's no decoration".[9] To record the album, Birdy worked with producers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian who had previously worked on Kacey Musgraves' 2018 album Golden Hour. The recording sessions for the album took place in Nashville. The recording of the album was completed just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and the album was intended to be released soon thereafter. It was delayed as a result of the pandemic but this allowed greater time for Birdy to reflect on the album and make small changes accordingly. While staying at her family home in New Forest during the pandemic, she set up a makeshift mixer studio in a cupboard and was finishing bits of the record at ho