KEEP
FaI TH
SINGER-SONGWRITER SHURA ON DESIRE, FAITH
AND FALLING IN LOVE IN NEW YORK CITY
WORDS DANIELLE MUSTARDEt’s been three years
since indie electro-pop
favourite Shura released
debut album and all-
round top bop Nothing’s
Real. Now that little bit older, bolder
and based out of Brooklyn, “Shu”, aka
28-year-old Aleksandra Lilah Denton,
is back with new album Forevher, a
sonic love letter to faith, lust and fall-
ing in love.
When we meet on the set of our
cover shoot, Shu – dressed comforta-
bly in slacks and DMs – is fresh off
the stage from her performance
at this year’s Glastonbury Fes-
tival, and it’s clear that she’s
still on a high.“I went with
my twin brother, Nick, and his
boyfriend,” – yes, Shura has a
gay twin-come-bff and yes, we
are jealous – “And my girlfriend.
Just the four of us. Nick’s boy-
friend and my girlfriend had never
been before and were terrified after
all of the mud that we’d warned them
about, but luckily the weather was
incredible. No lost wellington boots,
no flooded tents, none of that. They
were both pleasantly surprised.”
As well as taking to the fabled
Glasto stage alongside a troupe of
much celebrated “Pride nuns” (tinyurl.
com/DIVAshuglasto), this year also saw
one of Shu’s biggest musical influ-
ences perform – none other than Ms
Janet Jackson. How was seeing one
of her idols up close and personal?
“Janet was the first show I went to see
after I played. It was a bit of a mad
dash, but it was so lovely to see her. I
honestly felt like I was on drugs... Dad
dancing on a natural high basically
describes my Glastonbury this year.”
In fact, the whole experience
left Shu feeling “really emotional”- a side effect she hadn’t been
expecting. “After I played, I had this
really lovely day. I was high for a lot
of it – not on drugs, just on life. I was
dancing around, having a lovely old
time, and then on the Monday I had
this moment where I realised what
had happened and I just felt really
grateful. Me and my brother made
a spaghetti bolognese together and
talked about how great life was and
how lovely it was to spend those four
days together. I felt really moved by
the whole experience.” >>>
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30 SEPTEMBER 2019