Pink Noise: Laura Mvula’s Sonic Transformation

Laura Mvula first appeared on the R&B scene nine years ago with a commanding presence, captivating audiences with her vast vocal range and introspective lyrics. Her debut album, *Sing to the Moon*, garnered widespread acclaim and a Mercury Prize nomination for its atmospheric fusion of soul, pop, and gospel. She followed it up with *The Dreaming Room*, a powerful exploration of love, loss, and Black empowerment, enhanced by the majestic sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra. Critics often compared her to Nina Simone, noting that her complex and genre-defying music required deep listening and resisted easy categorization.

With her third studio album, *Pink Noise*, Mvula shifts gears, embracing a synth-driven pop and R&B sound that harks back to the 1980s, reminiscent of artists like Billy Ocean, Phil Collins, and Wham! The album evokes an era where bright electronics and hard drums masked even the saddest themes with upbeat, danceable grooves. Now sporting a hightop fade and wielding a pink keytar, Mvula seems ready to move beyond the melancholic tones of her earlier work, channeling her emotions into physical movement. *Pink Noise* is a vibrant, energetic record with booming drums and thumping bass that invite listeners to shake off life’s struggles and find spiritual release. This shift is evident in tracks like “Church Girl,” where Mvula reflects on being dropped from her label in 2017, a moment she described as a harsh realization. Yet, rather than dwell on the past, she acknowledges a higher power and embraces a new narrative, singing, “Who do you think you are? You don’t write the story baby… It’s just a game of let it be.” On “Safe Passage,” she expresses a newfound sense of freedom, singing, “Never imagined I would ever be free from your story… I finally see I’m everything I need.” And in “Golden Ashes,” she affirms her resilience: “Don’t wait for me to die, you’ll be waiting a long time.” With *Pink Noise*, Mvula revels in the liberation of moving beyond stress, adding a vibrant new chapter to her rich musical tapestry.