When you are an actress, a scriptwriter, a children’s author and a jazz singer, not to mention a mother, a friend, a lover and plenty else besides, how do you describe yourself? As Ada Morghe, Alexandra Helmig has the answer. Don’t put her in a box.
Today Ada Morghe releases the second single ‘Water Lilies’ from her new album ‘Box’ which follows on the 14thAugust. Listen HERE: https://backl.ink/142495393 ‘Water Lilies’ is a track influenced from her teen years when she moved to Paris at 19 and lived the bohemian dream of reading Sartre while hanging out in the cafes of the Left Bank, smoking Gitanes and wearing a lot of black. A soulful jazz glide and one of the most romantic songs on the new album, with something of the spirit of the great Chanson singers Edith Piaf and Juliette Greco. Watch the new video HERE.
“A long time ago I had a love story that was body-driven, a chemical romance,” she says of the song’s inspiration. “It should have led to something more, but it was too destructive. That kind of love affair is addictive, I guess. I had the image of water lilies on the ground — something that is doomed.”
The new album was launched by the release of first single ‘Oh My Love’ – watch the official video HERE. Elsewhere, ‘Box’ stretches from the tight, upbeat funk of ‘Wake Up’ to the melancholic elegance of ‘Rainy Day’, or the jazz seduction of ‘Sugar Lips’, a perfect vehicle for the warmth and smokiness of her voice. Another highlight, ‘Don’t You Put Me In A Box’, was co-written with a kindred spirit in the shape of Andrew Roachford (‘Cuddly Toy’). Ending with the beautiful ‘Demons’, an orchestral epic with shades of Scott Walker and a message of self-acceptance, ‘Box’marks a true coming of age.
Alexandra’s career in music began in earnest three years ago, after she wrote and starred in a play, then a film, called ‘Mother Bee’. A pun in its German title, Frau Mutter Tier, refers to an overprotective mother. Having been encouraged to also write songs for the film, those compositions fell into the hands of former Prince collaborator Hans-Martin Buff and just six week later, Alexandra found herself recording at Abbey Road. That ultimately putAlexandra in the relatively unusual position of releasing her debut album ‘Pictures’ in her 40s, which has gained over a 1 million streams across DSPs.
For someone who cannot be put in a box, how does Alexandra feel about being labelled as a jazz singer of verve, passion and elegance?
“Music makes sense to me because everything is in there,” she replies. “There is the writer, the musician, the performer. And this album is about where I am now.” As Box demonstrates so gracefully, Alexandra, as Ada Morghe, is in a very good place indeed
