British singer-songwriter Nao made waves in 2016 with her debut album, For All We Know, ushering in a style she dubbed “Wonky Funk” as smooth, downtempo EDM-influenced take on pop-R&B that resonated with fans on both sides of the pond. Since then, she’d been relatively quiet on the release front until very recently with new “Make It Out Alive,” which became one of the highlights of the summer R&B resurgence. Now, she’s followed up that triumph with the announcement that more new music is soon to follow with the upcoming release of her long-awaited sophomore album, titled Saturn.
The announcement is accompanied by the news of a planned world tour to help promote the new album which will begin in Japan this winter and conclude in London next spring. According to the press release publicizing the new project, Saturn is about the process of embracing adulthood and is inspired by an astrological phenomenon called “Saturn returning.”
“My friends kept telling me about the term ‘Saturn Returns,’” Nao explains. “It’s this idea that Saturn takes 29 years to orbit from when you’re born and it is the planet of blessings and growth. So by the time you’re around 29, between 27 and 32, something big happens in your life. It’s like waking up and coming of age, like: ‘I’ve been going through my twenties and what have I been doing in this relationship?’ What have I been doing in this job?’ You start to rethink everything – old stuff that your parents taught you or ideas that you believed in. It’s like a complete shedding of skin and it can be painful.”
Saturn is due October 26 on Little Tokyo Recordings Limited and features collaborations with Mura Masa and TDE singer SiR. Get it here and see the tour dates below.
12/06 — Tokyo, Japan @ WWWX
01/12 — Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
01/13 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox
01/14 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
01/16 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
01/18 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo
01/19 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
01/20 — Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
01/22 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
01/23 — Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
01/25 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café
01/26 — Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
01/27 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theater
01/29 — Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
01/30 — Montréal, QC @ Corona Theatre
02/01 — Boston, MA @ Royale
02/02 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02/04 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
02/05 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
02/07 — Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
03/07 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
03/08 — Paris, FR @ Gaite Lyrique
03/09 — Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
03/11 — Cologne, DE@ Luxor
03/13 — Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
03/14 — Hamburg, DE @ Mojo
03/15 — Berlin, DE @ Kesselhaus
03/20 — Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
03/21 — Leeds, UK @ Beckett Student Union
03/22 — Birmingham, UK @ 02 Institute
03/24 — Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
03/26 — Bristol UK @ O2 Academy Bristol
03/28 — London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
